Unfreedom Unbound: Developing a Cumulative Approach to Understanding Unfree Labour in Singapore

Sallie Yea and Stephanie Chok
Additional contact information
Sallie Yea: La Trobe University, Australia
Stephanie Chok: Independent Researcher, Singapore

Work, Employment & Society, 2018, vol. 32, issue 5, 925-941

Abstract: This article proposes a cumulative approach to contemporary manifestations of unfree labour based on an exploration of dynamic combinations of common elements of the phenomenon. This understanding challenges enumerative and depoliticized tendencies in current approaches to both characterizing unfree labour and identifying victims. A cumulative approach recognizes the interlocking impacts of multiple forms of compulsion and duress, which shape the choices migrant workers make when their alternatives are severely limited and agency constrained. To illustrate this approach the article draws on a case study of Bangladeshi contract migrant construction workers in Singapore.

Keywords: Construction workers; contract migrant workers; cumulative approach; labour exploitation; Singapore; unfree labour (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017017738956 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:32:y:2018:i:5:p:925-941

DOI: 10.1177/0950017017738956

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Work, Employment & Society from British Sociological Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().