Abstract
Focusing on the on-going conflict between the so-called labor aristocracy of regular workers of large firms in heavy and chemical industry and irregular workers who comprise 45% of all wage earners in South Korean society, this chapter examines labor polarization in post-developmental Korea. The chapter argues that the Korean case of supercapitalism drove not only chaebol to become far more competitive, global and innovative, but also drove the large-firm trade unions to corporatize their management structures, through which regular skilled workers and their militant unions exploit irregular workers as a buffer for their own company-based union interests in todays post-developmental Korea.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Korea's Quest for Economic Democratization |
Subtitle of host publication | Globalization, Polarization and Contention |
Publisher | Springer International Publishing Switzerland |
Pages | 119-139 |
Number of pages | 21 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9783319570662 |
ISBN (Print) | 9783319570655 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 6 Sept 2017 |