A New Age of World Factory: Monopoly Capital and the Struggle of the New Generation of Chinese Workers

A startling 18 young workers attempted suicide at Foxconn production facilities in China in the year of 2010, attracting worldwide attention. This article looks at the historical development of Foxconn Technology Group as a case to demonstrate the advent of rapid capital expansion in China and its impacts on the lives of Chinese workers. It also provides an account of the role of the state that facilitates to Foxconn’s production expansion as a form of monopoly capital. Foxconn is important and typical of this phenomenon due to its speed and scale of capital accumulation in all regions of China which is incomparable to extant enterprises. We argue that this new form of capital generates a global factory regime and a distinctive managerial mode that further leads to workers’ suffering from work pressure, anxieties and desperation at an unprecedented level.