Kevin Gray - Korean Workers and Neoliberal Globalization

Korean Workers and Neoliberal Globalization

One of the most remarkable aspects of South Koreas 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 Globalization examines current trends and transformations within the Korean labour movement since the 1990s.

It has been a common assumption that the third wave of democratization, the end of the Cold War, and the spread of neoliberal globalization in the latter part of the twentieth century have helped to create an environment in which organized labour is better placed to overcome bureaucratic national unionism and transform itself into a potential counter-globalization 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 institutionalized and bureaucratized 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 polarization.

The Korean experience provides an excellent case study for understanding the relationship between organized labour and globalization. Korean Workers and Neoliberal Globalization will appeal to students and scholars of Korean studies and International Political Economy, as well as Asian politics and economics.

Kevin Gray is RCUK Research Fellow in the Department of International Relations, University of Sussex.

1. The politics of economic reform in South Korea

A fragile miracle

Tat Yan Kong

2. Market and society in Korea

Interest, institution and the textile industry

Dennis McNamara

3. Social and economic policies in Korea

Ideas, networks and linkages

Dong-Myeon Shin

4. North Korea in the world economy

Edited by E. Kwan Choi, Yesook Merrill & E. Han Kim

5. Legal reform in Korea

Edited by Tom Ginsburg

6. Women, television and everyday life

Journeys of hope

Youna Kim

7. Transformations in twentieth century Korea

Edited by Chang Yun-Shik and Steven Hugh Lee

8. The development of modern South Korea

State formation, capitalist development and national identity

Kyong Ju Kim

9. Industrial relations in Korea

Diversity and dynamism of Korean enterprise unions from a comparative perspective

Jooyeon Jeong

10. The global Korean motor industry

The hyundai motor companys global strategy

Russell D. Lansbury, Chung-Sok Suh and Seung-Ho Kwon

11. Korean workers and neoliberal globalization

Kevin Gray

Korean Workers and Neoliberal Globalization

Kevin Gray

First published 2008

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

First issued in paperback 2011

2008 Kevin Gray

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gray, Kevin, 1973

Korean workers and neoliberal globalization / Kevin Gray.

p. cm. (Routledge advances in Korean studies ; 11)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 9780415419093 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Labor movementKorea (South)History20th century. 2. GlobalizationEconomic aspectsKorea (South) I. Title.

HD8730.5.G73 2007

331.88095195dc22

2006101196

ISBN 10: 0415419093 (hbk)

ISBN 10: 0415669669 (pbk)

ISBN 10: 0203946715 (ebk)

ISBN 13: 9780415419093 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 9780415669665 (pbk)

ISBN 13: 9780203946718 (ebk)

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent.

Tables

Figures

Acknowledgements

This book is based upon PhD research that was carried out at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (20012005), and thus, I would like to express my gratitude first and foremost to my PhD supervisors Dr Barry Gills and Dr Louise Amoore of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The comments and constructive criticisms of my PhD examiners, Dr Robert OBrien of McMaster University and Dr Rod Hague of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne were also invaluable in the transition from doctoral thesis to book. The research itself was carried out during one 12 month period of field research in Korea (20032004), when I was based at the Asiatic Research Centre at Korea University in Seoul, and I would like to thank Professor Choi Jang-Jip and Professor Park Sang-Hoon there for providing me with the support necessary to carry out my field research, and for the opportunity and encouragement to engage more fully with the Korean academic community. I would also like to thank Professor Michael Douglass and staff at the Globalization Research Center, University of Hawaii, where I spent the summer of 2004 as a visiting researcher. Hagen Koo at the University of Hawaii also provided some valuable early criticism of some of my key arguments. The book manuscript itself was prepared whilst holding a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Department of Geography at the University of Durham (20052006), and the Department was helpful in providing me with the resources to finish the manuscript. I would particularly like to express my gratitude to my wife, Han Yoo-Jung, for her support, patience, and most practically, her generous help in transcribing interviews. It is also no exaggeration to say that this work would not have been possible if it were not for the generous financial support of the Economic and Social Research Council. In addition to a three year PhD Studentship (Studentship No. R42200134214), this support has included nine months Korean language study at Yonsei University in Seoul (20022003), a three month overseas institutional visit at the University of Hawaii, as well as a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Durham (Award No. PTA-026-27-0958). I would also like to acknowledge the receipt of a British Academy conference grant that enabled me to present part of this work at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 2006. The Department of Geography at Durham also provided me with financial support to present at the RC44 Labour Movements Research Committee at the International Sociological Association conference in Durban, South Africa, 2006.