L. Larry Liu | Morgan State University (original) (raw)
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Papers by L. Larry Liu
Drawing on the concept of the spatial fix by Harvey (2001), the paper presents the claim that the... more Drawing on the concept of the spatial fix by Harvey (2001), the paper presents the claim that the goal of the Chinese Communist Party is to retain political legitimacy by maintaining high rates of economic growth by shifting from an export-led growth strategy to a domestic investment and most recently to a foreign investment strategy, thus emphasizing the spatial component of China’s capital accumulation strategy. The shifting strategy is associated with a decline in the rate of return in each of these strategies, posing a challenge to the Chinese accumulation model. This strategy is becoming increasingly less effective as overall economic growth rates decline. It is the weakness of organized labor that makes a rebalancing of the economy from exports and fixed-asset investments to consumption more difficult. As such the paper contributes to a discussion that situates labor struggles and efforts of the CCP to retain political legitimacy within the broader political economy context, which is relevant to political and economic sociology.
Technological job displacement, and the use of technology to restrict worker's control over their... more Technological job displacement, and the use of technology to restrict worker's control over their job as well as increasing their workload have been a consistent concern in scholarly discourse on technology and work. This study applies those claims to college professors and lawyers by analyzing discussions and articles in trade publications and online news sources, BLS data, faculty and lawyer surveys, and semi-structured interviews. The key findings are that despite cost and funding pressures technological job displacement have not occurred among college professors and lawyers; technology has made some aspects of work (e.g. research) easier; it has added a greater work and stress burden for online instructors and corporate lawyers, while alleviating the work for solo practice lawyers; for all lawyers and educators the constant connectivity via e-mail makes work faster and more difficult to control, especially for corporate lawyers; the sense of work control and satisfaction is great among online instructors and solo practice lawyers, but online instructors also experience some alienation in their teaching.
This study investigates the question why mainstream political parties are on a declining trajecto... more This study investigates the question why mainstream political parties are on a declining trajectory, and why right-wing populist parties have the ability to make inroads into the political process, having the capacity to displace or at least challenge the current center-left and center-right parties. Rather than looking merely at the level of the voters, or the public-relations strategy of charismatic right-wing party leaders, the analysis has focused on the historical evolution of government policies in the UK, Germany and Austria in migration, labor relations, the welfare state and the economy. This account largely sets aside post-materialist or de-democratization explanations for electoral volatility and change. The finding is that the collective decisions of current and past government officials had a great impact on their current and future viability in elections. Growing economic insecurity in the form of more unemployed and underemployed people, a smaller welfare state, and growing ethnic diversity via more immigration have created dissatisfaction and fear among the voting population, which the mainstream parties have never been able to resolve or mitigate, offering avenues for right-wing parties to fill the void.
The Hakka Chinese have been known to have attained important political offices in East and Southe... more The Hakka Chinese have been known to have attained important political offices in East and Southeast Asia and in South America. This paper contributes to the discussion of Hakka political leaders by analyzing the conditions of Hakka people in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Guyana, and the rise of a few of these Hakka individuals to top leadership positions in their respective country. The argument is that despite being a minority and initially political outsiders, some of their descendants have capitalized on their outsider position to climb to the top political leadership
Drawing on the concept of the spatial fix by Harvey (2001), the paper presents the claim that the... more Drawing on the concept of the spatial fix by Harvey (2001), the paper presents the claim that the goal of the Chinese Communist Party is to retain political legitimacy by maintaining high rates of economic growth by shifting from an export-led growth strategy to a domestic investment and most recently to a foreign investment strategy, thus emphasizing the spatial component of China’s capital accumulation strategy. The shifting strategy is associated with a decline in the rate of return in each of these strategies, posing a challenge to the Chinese accumulation model. This strategy is becoming increasingly less effective as overall economic growth rates decline. It is the weakness of organized labor that makes a rebalancing of the economy from exports and fixed-asset investments to consumption more difficult. As such the paper contributes to a discussion that situates labor struggles and efforts of the CCP to retain political legitimacy within the broader political economy context, which is relevant to political and economic sociology.
Technological job displacement, and the use of technology to restrict worker's control over their... more Technological job displacement, and the use of technology to restrict worker's control over their job as well as increasing their workload have been a consistent concern in scholarly discourse on technology and work. This study applies those claims to college professors and lawyers by analyzing discussions and articles in trade publications and online news sources, BLS data, faculty and lawyer surveys, and semi-structured interviews. The key findings are that despite cost and funding pressures technological job displacement have not occurred among college professors and lawyers; technology has made some aspects of work (e.g. research) easier; it has added a greater work and stress burden for online instructors and corporate lawyers, while alleviating the work for solo practice lawyers; for all lawyers and educators the constant connectivity via e-mail makes work faster and more difficult to control, especially for corporate lawyers; the sense of work control and satisfaction is great among online instructors and solo practice lawyers, but online instructors also experience some alienation in their teaching.
This study investigates the question why mainstream political parties are on a declining trajecto... more This study investigates the question why mainstream political parties are on a declining trajectory, and why right-wing populist parties have the ability to make inroads into the political process, having the capacity to displace or at least challenge the current center-left and center-right parties. Rather than looking merely at the level of the voters, or the public-relations strategy of charismatic right-wing party leaders, the analysis has focused on the historical evolution of government policies in the UK, Germany and Austria in migration, labor relations, the welfare state and the economy. This account largely sets aside post-materialist or de-democratization explanations for electoral volatility and change. The finding is that the collective decisions of current and past government officials had a great impact on their current and future viability in elections. Growing economic insecurity in the form of more unemployed and underemployed people, a smaller welfare state, and growing ethnic diversity via more immigration have created dissatisfaction and fear among the voting population, which the mainstream parties have never been able to resolve or mitigate, offering avenues for right-wing parties to fill the void.
The Hakka Chinese have been known to have attained important political offices in East and Southe... more The Hakka Chinese have been known to have attained important political offices in East and Southeast Asia and in South America. This paper contributes to the discussion of Hakka political leaders by analyzing the conditions of Hakka people in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Guyana, and the rise of a few of these Hakka individuals to top leadership positions in their respective country. The argument is that despite being a minority and initially political outsiders, some of their descendants have capitalized on their outsider position to climb to the top political leadership