The Foxconn Suicide Express

Jenny Chan

The Foxconn Suicide Express

Department of Applied Social Sciences

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceeding › Chapter in an edited book (as author) › Academic research › peer-review

Abstract

With a workforce of more than one million in mainland China alone, the Taiwanese Foxconn Technology Group is a major contractor for Apple and other leading multinational corporations. In 2010, when it was reported that eighteen workers had attempted suicide at company facilities in China, resulting in fourteen deaths, it made visible the conditions of overwork and desperation and elicited international condemnation. All of the victims hailed from the Chinese countryside and were in the prime of youth—representative of what scholars had then just begun calling the ‘second generation of migrant workers’. Taking place roughly at the same time as the mobilisation of temporary workers at the Honda plant in Nanhai, the
media spotlight on the ‘Foxconn Suicide Express’ once again revealed the structural torsion within Chinese society caused by the combined activities of international capital and the Chinese state.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proletarian China
Subtitle of host publication	A Century of Chinese Labour
Editors	Ivan Franceschini, Christian Sorace
Place of Publication	London and NY
Publisher	Verso
Pages	625
Number of pages	634
Edition	1st
ISBN (Electronic)	9781839766350
ISBN (Print)	9781839766336
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2022

Keywords

China
labor
global production

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

More information

https://madeinchinajournal.com/2021/12/01/proletarian-china/Licence: Unspecified

International Association for Suicide Prevention
Spencer-Thomas, S. (Chair), Chan, J. (Co-chair) & Waters, S. (Co-chair)
29 Jun 2023
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participant

Cite this

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abstract = "With a workforce of more than one million in mainland China alone, the Taiwanese Foxconn Technology Group is a major contractor for Apple and other leading multinational corporations. In 2010, when it was reported that eighteen workers had attempted suicide at company facilities in China, resulting in fourteen deaths, it made visible the conditions of overwork and desperation and elicited international condemnation. All of the victims hailed from the Chinese countryside and were in the prime of youth—representative of what scholars had then just begun calling the {\textquoteleft}second generation of migrant workers{\textquoteright}. Taking place roughly at the same time as the mobilisation of temporary workers at the Honda plant in Nanhai, themedia spotlight on the {\textquoteleft}Foxconn Suicide Express{\textquoteright} once again revealed the structural torsion within Chinese society caused by the combined activities of international capital and the Chinese state.",

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The Foxconn Suicide Express

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

More information

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Activities

International Association for Suicide Prevention

Cite this