Beyond the Dormitory Labour Regime: Comparing Chinese and Indian Workplace–Residence Systems as Strategies of Migrant Labour Control

Abstract

This article explores two examples of worker housing in India, and compares these with China’s ‘dormitory labour regime’, arguing that these methods of labour accommodation are part of a broader, increasingly global, workplace-residence regime aimed at migrant labour control for the purposes of value extraction. Contrary to previous studies, it argues that China’s system is not unique, but part of the political economy of contemporary global capitalism. Although there exist historical and contextual variations between the two Indian case studies, drawn from the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) garment sector and the Andhra Pradesh electronics industry, as well as between the Indian and Chinese contexts, the aims and many of the outcomes are similar. Moving beyond a focus on the country- and space-specific ‘dormitory labour regime’ facilitates a broader understanding of the crucial role contemporary workplace-residence systems play in enhancing control of migrant labour for the benefit of global accumulation networks.