Peasant migrant workers’ defense of rights in China at the modern reform stage: challenges and opportunities

In the context of China's rapidly developing economy, the system of labor relations in its economy is undergoing constant transformations. After the beginning of the implementation of reforms and as the process of urbanization accelerated, a large socio-economic group of rural migrant workers was formed in the cities of the Middle Kingdom, which received the name “peasant workers” («SEi»). Despite significant numbers, it is characterized by a heterogeneous composition of participants, predominantly with a low level of education and an unformed culture of defending their rights as workers. For a number of reasons, these people are becoming the least socially protected group in modern China. From a modern economic sociology perspective, the present paper examines the problems and prospects of protecting the interests of “peasant workers”, in particular the changing role of trade unions in realizing their primary function of defending workers' rights in the context of market reforms.