Korean Skilled Workers : Toward a Labor Aristocracy / Hyung-A Kim and Clark W. Sorensen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kim, Hyung-A, 1948- author.

Sorensen, Clark W., author.

Series:

Korean studies of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.

Korean Studies of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic development.

Labor movement.

Labor policy.

Skilled labor.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (232 p.)

Place of Publication:

Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2020]

Summary:

South Korea's triumphant development has catapulted the country's economy to the eleventh largest in the world. Large family-owned conglomerates, or chaebols, such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG, have become globally preeminent manufacturing brands. Yet Korea's highly disciplined, technologically competent skilled workers who built these brands have become known only for their successful labor-union militancy, which in recent decades has been criticized as collective "selfishness" that has allowed them to prosper at the expense of other workers.0Hyung-A Kim tells the story of Korea's first generation of skilled workers in the heavy and chemical industries sector, following their dramatic transition from 1970s-era "industrial warriors" to labor-union militant "Goliat Warriors," and ultimately to a "labor aristocracy" with guaranteed job security, superior wages, and even job inheritance for their children. By contrast, millions of Korea's non-regular employees, especially young people, struggle in precarious and insecure employment.0This richly documented account demonstrates that industrial workers' most enduring goal has been their own economic advancement, not a wider socialist revolution, and shows how these individuals' paths embody the consequences of rapid development.

Contents:

Unveiling Korean skilled workers

The creation of industrial warriors : mass training of the first generation of skilled workers

From industrial warriors to Goliat warriors : a new labor militancy

Counterrevolution : the corporate culture movement and HCI workers' response

The Asian financial crisis : HCI workers' social closure and the rise of Chaebŏl dominance

The rise of HCI workers : a labor aristocracy vis-à-vis nonregular workers.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780295747224

0295747226

OCLC:

1121421556