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“Work Like a Chinese”: Aspirations, Patterns of Work, and Working Conditions of the Chinese Immigrant Community in Southern Spain

Expanding businesses was the main reason for the immigration of Chinese people in Spain, which consists the fifth largest nationality of immigrants in this country. Nevertheless, few studies have been carried out to understand the working conditions of this population. Using an ethnographic design,...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Badanta, Bárbara, González-Cano Caballero, María, Fernández-García, Elena, de Diego-Cordero, Rocío, Lucchetti, Giancarlo, Fernández-Castillo, Rafael-Jesús, Barrientos-Trigo, Sergio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7579119/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32992536
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197063
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author Badanta, Bárbara
González-Cano Caballero, María
Fernández-García, Elena
de Diego-Cordero, Rocío
Lucchetti, Giancarlo
Fernández-Castillo, Rafael-Jesús
Barrientos-Trigo, Sergio
author_facet Badanta, Bárbara
González-Cano Caballero, María
Fernández-García, Elena
de Diego-Cordero, Rocío
Lucchetti, Giancarlo
Fernández-Castillo, Rafael-Jesús
Barrientos-Trigo, Sergio
author_sort Badanta, Bárbara
collection PubMed
description Expanding businesses was the main reason for the immigration of Chinese people in Spain, which consists the fifth largest nationality of immigrants in this country. Nevertheless, few studies have been carried out to understand the working conditions of this population. Using an ethnographic design, this study examined the work patterns and working conditions among Chinese immigrants living in southern Spain and how these factors affected their health. Observing participants, field notes, and semi-structured interviews with question script were conducted with 133 Chinese immigrants. Five main themes were defined: “Economic improvement as a migratory reason”, “Conception to Work”, “Labor Sector”, “Work conditions”, and “Occupational health”. Our results showed that Chinese immigrants worked in the provision of services, with long working hours and little rest. Although they had low rates of unemployment, the working conditions had an important impact on their dietary patterns and their family life. Ergonomic and psychosocial risks also explained high rates of musculoskeletal problems and stress. In conclusion, Chinese immigrants living in southern Spain work actively in the service sector of the economy, but with many work hours. These characteristics seem to impact their health at a physical, psychological, and social level.
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spelling pubmed-75791192020-10-29 “Work Like a Chinese”: Aspirations, Patterns of Work, and Working Conditions of the Chinese Immigrant Community in Southern Spain Badanta, Bárbara González-Cano Caballero, María Fernández-García, Elena de Diego-Cordero, Rocío Lucchetti, Giancarlo Fernández-Castillo, Rafael-Jesús Barrientos-Trigo, Sergio Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Expanding businesses was the main reason for the immigration of Chinese people in Spain, which consists the fifth largest nationality of immigrants in this country. Nevertheless, few studies have been carried out to understand the working conditions of this population. Using an ethnographic design, this study examined the work patterns and working conditions among Chinese immigrants living in southern Spain and how these factors affected their health. Observing participants, field notes, and semi-structured interviews with question script were conducted with 133 Chinese immigrants. Five main themes were defined: “Economic improvement as a migratory reason”, “Conception to Work”, “Labor Sector”, “Work conditions”, and “Occupational health”. Our results showed that Chinese immigrants worked in the provision of services, with long working hours and little rest. Although they had low rates of unemployment, the working conditions had an important impact on their dietary patterns and their family life. Ergonomic and psychosocial risks also explained high rates of musculoskeletal problems and stress. In conclusion, Chinese immigrants living in southern Spain work actively in the service sector of the economy, but with many work hours. These characteristics seem to impact their health at a physical, psychological, and social level. MDPI 2020-09-27 2020-10 /pmc/articles/PMC7579119/ /pubmed/32992536 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197063 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Badanta, Bárbara
González-Cano Caballero, María
Fernández-García, Elena
de Diego-Cordero, Rocío
Lucchetti, Giancarlo
Fernández-Castillo, Rafael-Jesús
Barrientos-Trigo, Sergio
“Work Like a Chinese”: Aspirations, Patterns of Work, and Working Conditions of the Chinese Immigrant Community in Southern Spain
title “Work Like a Chinese”: Aspirations, Patterns of Work, and Working Conditions of the Chinese Immigrant Community in Southern Spain
title_full “Work Like a Chinese”: Aspirations, Patterns of Work, and Working Conditions of the Chinese Immigrant Community in Southern Spain
title_fullStr “Work Like a Chinese”: Aspirations, Patterns of Work, and Working Conditions of the Chinese Immigrant Community in Southern Spain
title_full_unstemmed “Work Like a Chinese”: Aspirations, Patterns of Work, and Working Conditions of the Chinese Immigrant Community in Southern Spain
title_short “Work Like a Chinese”: Aspirations, Patterns of Work, and Working Conditions of the Chinese Immigrant Community in Southern Spain
title_sort “work like a chinese”: aspirations, patterns of work, and working conditions of the chinese immigrant community in southern spain
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7579119/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32992536
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197063
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