Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy
- The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Labor and Democracy: Theory and Practice
- Part II History, Politics, and Law
- Part III Labor, Diversity, and Democracy
- Part IV Country and Regional Perspectives
- 14 Labor, Workers’ Rights, and Democracy in Latin America
- 15 African Perspectives on Labor Rights as Enhancers of Democratic Governance
- 16 Why (Which) Workers Often Oppose (Which) Democracy?
- 17 Reclaiming Democracy
- 18 A Critical Assessment of Democratic Labor Unionism in South Korea from a Feminist Standpoint
- Part V Labor and Democracy Sectoral Case Studies: Platform Workers, Higher Education, and the Care Industry
- Index
- References
18 - A Critical Assessment of Democratic Labor Unionism in South Korea from a Feminist Standpoint
from Part IV - Country and Regional Perspectives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2022
By
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy
- The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Labor and Democracy: Theory and Practice
- Part II History, Politics, and Law
- Part III Labor, Diversity, and Democracy
- Part IV Country and Regional Perspectives
- 14 Labor, Workers’ Rights, and Democracy in Latin America
- 15 African Perspectives on Labor Rights as Enhancers of Democratic Governance
- 16 Why (Which) Workers Often Oppose (Which) Democracy?
- 17 Reclaiming Democracy
- 18 A Critical Assessment of Democratic Labor Unionism in South Korea from a Feminist Standpoint
- Part V Labor and Democracy Sectoral Case Studies: Platform Workers, Higher Education, and the Care Industry
- Index
- References
Summary
Through the Candlelight movement, which led to the resignation of the former President due to corruption, a younger generation – which is the main victim of the neoliberal restructuring in South Korea – has raised fundamental questions concerning the definition of the “democracy” of the labor unionism. This paper argues that the “democratic norm” in Korean labor unionism should be assessed critically in terms of both the meaning and possibility of “collectiveness,” “militant organizational culture,” and the scope of “democratic value.” This chapter further maintains that these current critical questions on the (dis)continuity and sustainability of the democratic labor unionism correspond with feminist ideology, along with the growing diversity in the labor market in South Korea.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy , pp. 293 - 304Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
References
Briskin, Linda. 1993. “Union Women and Separate Organizing,” in Briskin, Linda and McDermott, Patricia, eds. Women Challenging Unions. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 89–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broadbent, Kaye. 2007. “Sisters Organizing in Japan and Korea: The Development of Women-Only Unions,” Industrial Relations Journal 38, 3: 229–251.Google Scholar
Cho, Hyorae. 2005. “daegieop nosagwangyewa nodongjohapui jeontuseong” [Industrial Relations and Militancy of Labor Union in Large Firms in South Korea], saneopnodongyeongu [Korean Journal of Labor Studies] 11, 2: 229–260.Google Scholar
Cho, Sunkyung. 1998. “kyŏngje wigi wa yŏsŏng koyong chŏngch’i” [Economic Crisis, Women’s Work, and Employment Politics], han’guk yŏsŏnghak [Journal of Korean Women’s Studies] 14, 2: 5–33.Google Scholar
Choi, Jang Chip. 2013. nodong ŏmnŭn minjujuŭi ŭi in’ganjŏk sangch’ŏdŭl [The Wounds of the Democratization without Labor]. Seoul: Humanitas.Google Scholar
Colgan, Fiona, and Ledwith, Sue. 2002. “Gender and Diversity: Reshaping Union Democracy,” Employee Relations 24, 2: 167–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chun, Jennifer Jihye. 2005. “Public Dramas and the Politics of Justice: Comparison of Janitors’ Union Struggles in South Korea and the United States,” Work and Occupations 32, 2: 486–503.Google Scholar
Chun, Jennifer Jihye. 2009. Organizing at the Margins: The Symbolic Politics of Labor in South Korea and the United States. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Chun, Jinnifer Jihye. 2012. “The Power of the Powerless: New Schemas and Resources for Organizing Workers in Neoliberal Times,” in Suzuki, Akira, ed. Cross-National Perspectives on Social Movement Unionism: Diversities of Labour Movement Revitalization in Japan, Korea, and the United States. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 37–60.Google Scholar
Cockburn, Cynthia. 1996. “Strategies for Gender Democracy: Strengthening the Representation of Trade Union Women in the European Social Dialogue,” European Journal of Women’s Studies 3, 2: 7–26.Google Scholar
Cooke, Fang Lee, and Jiang, Yumei. 2017. “The Growth of Non-Standard Employment in Japan and South Korea: The Role of Institutional Actors and Impact on Workers and the Labour Market,” Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 55: 155–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, Rae. 2012. “The Gender Gap in Union Leadership in Australia: A Qualitative Study,” Journal of Industrial Relations 54, 2: 131–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, Tricia. 2014. “Collective Bargaining and the Gender Gap in the Printing Industry,” Gender, Work, and Organization 2, 5: 381–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubin, Robert. 1973. “Attachment to Work and Union Militancy,” Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society 12, 1: 51–64.Google Scholar
Hong, Chan-Sook. 2018. “2016–17 nyŏnŭi kwanghwamun kwangjang: yugyo kongnonjang esŏ shimin kongnonjang ŭro” [Kwanghwamun Plaza in 2016–2017: From a Confucian Public Space to Citizen-Led Public Space], minjujuŭi wa in’gwŏn [Journal of Democracy and Human Rights] 18, 2: 147–179.Google Scholar
Kim, Chul-Kyoo, and Lee, Hae-Jin. 2010. “Teenage Participants of the 2008 Candlelight Vigil: Their Social Characteristics and Changes in Political Views,” Korea Journal (Autumn): 14–37.Google Scholar
Kim, Hyesook, and Cho, Sunkyung. 1995. “minjok minju undong kwa kabujangje” [National Democracy Movement and Patriarchy], sahoe p’yŏngnon kil [Social Critics Way] 95, 8: 142–150.Google Scholar
Kim, Sungmoon. 2018. “Candlelight for Our Country’s Right Name: A Confucian Interpretation of South Korea’s Candlelight Revolution,” Religions 9, 3: 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koo, Hagen. 2001. Korean Workers: The Culture and Politics of Class Formation. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Kwoen, Young-Sook. 2018. “ch’otpul ŭi undong chŏngch’i wa 87nyŏn ch’eje ŭi ijung chŏnhwan” [Candlelight Movement Politics and the Dual Transformation of Korean Democracy], kyŏngje wa sahoe [Economy and Society] 3: 62–103.Google Scholar
Kwon, Insook. 2005. taehanmin’guk ŭn kundaeda [Korea Is an Army]. Seoul: ch’ŏngnyŏnsa.Google Scholar
Kwon, Insook. 2013. “Gender, Feminism, and Masculinity in Anti-Militarism,” International Feminist Journal of Politics 15, 2: 213–233.Google Scholar
Kwon, Jaok. 2018. “Forging Feminism within Labor Unions and the Legacy of Democracy Movements in South Korea,” Labor History 59, 5: 639–655.Google Scholar
Ledwith, Sue. 2012. “Gender Politics in Trade Unions: The Representation of Women between Exclusion and Inclusion,” Transfer 18, 2: 185–199.Google Scholar
Lee, Byong-Hoon. 2015. “Changing Cross-Movement Coalitions between Labor Unions and Civil Society Organizations in South Korea,” Development and Society 44, 2: 199–218.Google Scholar
Lee, Byong-Hoon. 2016. “Worker Militancy at the Margins: Struggles of Non-regular Workers in South Korea,” Development and Society 45, 1: 1–37.Google Scholar
Lee, Byong-Hoon, and Lee, Sophia Seung-Yoon. 2017. “Winning Conditions of Precarious Workers’ Struggles: A Reflection Based on Case Studies from South Korea,” Relations Industrielles 72, 2: 524–550.Google Scholar
Lee, Byong-Hoon, and Yoo, Hyung-Geun. 2013. “The Rise and Fall of Independent Immigrant Worker Unionism: A Case Study of the Migrants Trade Union in South Korea,” Journal of Industrial Relations 55, 2: 227–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Gira. 2018. “68undongŭl t’onghae para pon 2016-2017nyŏn ch’otpul undong ŭi sŏnggyŏk kwa ŭimi” [Characteristics and Implications of the Candlelight Rallies in Comparison with 68 Movement], yŏksa wa segye [History and the World] 54: 527–554.Google Scholar
Lee, Kyung. 2014. “Fighting in the Shadow of the Past: The Mobilizing Role of Vernacular Memories of the 1987 Pro-Democracy Movement in the 2008 Candlelight Protests in Korea,” Memory Studies 7, 1: 61–75.Google Scholar
Lee, Kwangil. 2018. “nodong undong ŭi panghyang chŏnhwan kwa saeroun chuch’e hyŏngsŏngŭi munje” [The Transformation and the New Subjectivity of the Labor Unionism], chinbo p’yŏngnon [The Radical Review] 75: 59–80.Google Scholar
Lee, Seung-Ook, Kim, Sook-Jin, and Wainwright, Joel. 2010. “Mad Cow Militancy: Neoliberal Hegemony and Social Resistance in South Korea,” Political Geography 29: 359–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Yoonkyung. 2009. “Divergent Outcomes of Labor Reform Politics in Democratized Korea and Taiwan,” Comparative International Development 44: 47–70.Google Scholar
Lee, Yoonkyung. 2011. Militants or Partisans: Labor Unions and Democratic Politics in Korea and Taiwan. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Lee, Yoonkyung. 2015. “Labor after Neoliberalism: The Birth of the Insecure Class in South Korea,” Globalizations 12, 2: 184–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Yoonkyung. 2016. “Sky Protest: New Forms of Labour Resistance in Neo-Liberal Korea,” Journal of Contemporary Asia 45, 3: 443–464.Google Scholar
Marginson, Paul, Sisson, Keith, and Arrowsmith, James. 2003. “Between Decentralization and Europeanisation: Sectoral Bargaining in Four Countries and Two Sectors,” European Journal of Industrial Relations 9, 2: 163–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moody, Kim. 1997. Workers in a Lean World: Unions in the International Economy. New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Park, Mi. 2007. “South Korean Trade Union Movement at the Crossroads: A Critique of ‘Social-Movement’ Unionism,” Critical Sociology 33: 311–344.Google Scholar
Park, Tae Joo. 2001. yŏsŏnggwa nojominjujuŭi [Women and Labor Democracy]. Statistics Korea. http://kostat.go.krGoogle Scholar
Roh, Jung-Gi. 2010. “minjuhwa 20nyŏn kwa nodong sahoe ŭi minjuhwa” [20 Years of Democratization and Democratization of the Labor], kiŏkkwa chŏnmang [Memory and Prospect] 22: 37–62.Google Scholar
Seidman, Gay. 1994. Manufacturing Militance: Workers’ Movements in Brazil and South Africa, 1970–1985. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeong, Seo, Youngju. 2001. “chukkŏna hokŏn nappŭgŏna: nodongundong sogesŏ yŏsŏngŭro saranamgi [Surviving as a Woman in Labor Unionism: Either Being Dead or Being Bad], yŏsŏng gwa sahoe [Women and Society] 12: 20/39.Google Scholar
Shin, Kwang-Yeong. 2010. “Globalization and the Working Class in South Korea: Contestation, Fragmentation, and Renewal,” Journal of Contemporary Asia 40, 2: 211–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wajcman, Judy. 2000. “Feminism Facing Industrial Relations in Britain,” British Journal of Industrial Relations 38, 2: 183–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterman, Peter. 1993. “Social-Movement Unionism: A New Union Model for a New World Order?,” Review 16, 3: 245–278.Google Scholar
Willis, Paul. 2004. “Shop Floor Culture, Masculinity, and the Wage Form,” in Murphy, Peter, ed. Feminism and Masculinities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 108–120.Google Scholar
Yoo, Hyung-Geun. 2012. “Militant Labor Unionism and the Decline of Solidarity: A Case Study of Hyundai Auto Workers in South Korea,” Development and Society (December): 177–199.Google Scholar
Yoo, Hyung-Guen. 2015. “ch’ŏngnyŏn puranjŏng nodongja ihae taebyŏn undong ŭi ch’urhyŏn kwa sŏngjang” [The Advent and Growth of the Labor Rights Movements of Youth Precarious Workers in Contemporary Korea], asea yŏn’gu [Asia Research] 160: 38–77.Google Scholar
Young, Iris Marion. 1990. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar