Korean Workers and Neoliberal GlobalizationOne of the most remarkable aspects of South Korea’s transition from impoverished post-colonial nation to fully-fledged industrialized democracy has been the growth of its independent and dynamic labour movement. Korean Workers and Neoliberal Globalisation examines current trends and transformations within the Korean labour movement since the 1990s. It has been a common assumption that the ‘third wave’ of democratisation, the end of the Cold War, and the spread of neoliberal globalisation in the latter part of the 20th century have helped to create an environment in which organised labour is better placed to overcome bureaucratic national unionism and transform itself into a potential counter-globalisation movement. However, Kevin Gray argues that despite the apparent continued phenomena of labour militancy and the rhetoric of anti-neoliberalism, the mainstream independent labour movement in Korea has become increasingly institutionalised and bureaucratised into the new capitalist democracy. This process is demonstrated by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ experience of participation in various forms of policy making forums. Gray suggests that as a result, the KCTU has failed to mount an effective challenge against processes of neoliberal restructuring and concomitant social polarisation. The Korean experience provides an excellent case study for understanding the relationship between organised labour and globalisation. Korean Workers and Neoliberal Globalisation will appeal to students and scholars of Korean studies and International Political Economy, as well as Asian politics and economics. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 47
... ideological pressures on organized labour not to threaten Korea's 'national competitiveness' through engaging in militant actions. Strikes that have sought to resist restructuring have been met with physical repression by security ...
... ideological spectrum and a general shift towards the centre-right. This does not mean that there is no potential for ... ideologically-driven programme of increasing Korea's international standing and to gain entry to a number of ...
... ideology that seeks to legitimize and promote those social relations of production, forms of state, and world orders. As a phase of history, neoliberalism has its roots in the world economic slowdown beginning in the 1970s and the ...
... ideology has also served to legitimize the state's retreat from provision of extensive social welfare, thus shifting the risks associated with global capitalism onto the world's working classes. Given the strong ideological component of ...
... educational and ideological agencies which shape morals and culture, and as a space in which contemporary historical structures can be challenged. With regard to the present Neoliberal globalimtion, labour, and resistance 15.
Contents
1 | |
12 | |
2 Globalization crisis and the entrenchment of neoliberalism in Korea | 31 |
3 The rise and fall of militant labour unionism in Korea | 52 |
4 Social movement unionism and the Korean labour movement | 71 |
5 Latedemocratization and low intensity social corporatism | 92 |
6 Korean labour and the struggle against neoliberalism | 110 |
7 The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions social reform struggle | 130 |
Conclusion | 150 |
Notes | 162 |
Bibliography | 170 |
Index | 189 |