Slash youth in China: From precarious strugglers to successful exemplars

Abstract

Slash has become a new phenomenon and practice as a growing number of youth, no longer in long-term employment with clear future security, create a contingent combination of careers. Its recent prevalence in China marks a visible consequence of the national restructuring policy of labor flexibilization over the past decades. Dismantling of the historical norm of full employment, encouragement of flexible digital economy, short-life expectancy of new businesses, and generalized insecurity due to intense competition at individual level, are the major factors contributing to the emergence and expansion of slash youth. Based on empirical and ethnographic evidences, this article identifies the complexity, diversity, and creativity embodied in individual slash experiences, suggesting that slash youth are stratified and they demonstrate differentiated ability to translate uncertainties into opportunities under the condition of individualization. This article is part of the special issue Creative Labour in East Asia.