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
... repression. This struggle was symbolized in the self-immolation of the young sweatshop worker Chon T'ae-Il, who in 1970 burnt himself to death in protest at the sweatshop conditions in Seoul's textile factories, and at the failure of ...
Kevin Gray. likely themselves to be constrained and repressed by the engrained conservatism inherent in low intensity ... repression by security forces. The combined economic, legal and ideological assault on organized labour has meant ...
... repression of the labour movement tended to prevent all but the most extreme expressions of resistance. Periodic relaxation of harsh rule would normally be met with an outburst of labour militancy. At the beginning of the 1990s, however ...
... repress social forces, in particular the working class, in order to legitimize itself from the point of view of ... repression and engrained conservatism. The difference with overt authoritarianism is that the neoliberal state's ...
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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 |