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 today’s post-developmental Korea.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Korea's Quest for Economic Democratization |
Editors | Youngmi Kim |
Place of Publication | Switzerland |
Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
Pages | 119-139 |
Edition | 1st |
ISBN (Print) | 978-3-319-57065-5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2018 |