The phenomenon of overtime employment in modern China: possibilities of economic and sociological analysis

The study analyzes the main aspects of the development of labor relations in the modern informatization and digitalization of the Chinese economy. The subject of the paper is the phenomenon of overtime employment. This phenomenon is analyzed from the point of view of the theory and methodology of economic sociology and on the example of the introduction of the labor organization system “996" into the production system of IT-industry enterprises, which is the object of discussion in modern Chinese society. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is based on the ideas of Michael Burawoy, in particular, it is associated with the “production of consent" to voluntary exploitation in the framework of social and labor relations of modern post-industrial capitalism. The attention is drawn to the fact that overtime work has long been an element of the organizational culture of enterprises in different countries. Its prevalence is now increasingly promoted by economic globalization. It is concluded that overtime work in the current socio-economic conditions is inevitable. However, its active usage in the industrial and economic development of China cannot have a long-term basis due to its growing negative perception in Chinese public opinion.