ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nature and persistence of social marginality among former SOE workers in urban areas. It principally uses a case study of laid-off workers in the industrial city of Wuhan in central China to delineate and explore material conditions among this group and compares them to those of other residents. The chapter discusses the co-evolution of China's social welfare and employment systems, demonstrating the depth of the consequences suffered by laid-off SOE workers as a result of the ongoing dismantling and restructuring of these systems. For many workers, the unravelling of state ownership of the means of production and the exposure of state-owned enterprises (SOE) to market competition has therefore not simply meant the loss of an income but also separation from their social benefits package at precisely the time when they need it most. The chapter looks at reemployment histories of laid-off SOE workers to assess their ability to escape conditions of relative marginalisation.
