Book contents
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Rights in Action
- Part I Rights in Historical Perspective
- Part II Institutional Mechanisms for Rights Claiming
- Part III Mobilizing Rights for the Marginalized
- 9 From “We Are Not Machines, We Are Humans” to “We Are Workers, We Want to Work”
- 10 From Invisible Beneficiaries to Rights Bearers
- 11 The Politics of Postponement and Sexual Minority Rights in South Korea
- 12 Discovering Diversity
- Part IV Shaping Rights for New Citizens and Noncitizens
- Conclusion Findings and Future Directions
- Index
- References
9 - From “We Are Not Machines, We Are Humans” to “We Are Workers, We Want to Work”
The Changing Notion of Labor Rights in Korea, the 1980s to the 2000s
from Part III - Mobilizing Rights for the Marginalized
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2021
Book contents
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Rights in Action
- Part I Rights in Historical Perspective
- Part II Institutional Mechanisms for Rights Claiming
- Part III Mobilizing Rights for the Marginalized
- 9 From “We Are Not Machines, We Are Humans” to “We Are Workers, We Want to Work”
- 10 From Invisible Beneficiaries to Rights Bearers
- 11 The Politics of Postponement and Sexual Minority Rights in South Korea
- 12 Discovering Diversity
- Part IV Shaping Rights for New Citizens and Noncitizens
- Conclusion Findings and Future Directions
- Index
- References
Summary
The definition of labor rights for Korean workers has changed since the 1980s along with the neoliberal transformation of the economy. While workers demanded humane treatment and the right to form autonomous labor unions in the earlier period, labor rights in present day Korea are anchored on workers’ status recognition and the right to secure employment. Also, the methods through which workers press for their rights have shifted from union-based collective action to symbolic and extreme forms of protest. This chapter examines the changing notion of labor rights by investigating how structural conditions in the labor market generate workers’ primary grievances, how these grievances enlighten workers’ rights consciousness, and how workers’ interactions with employers and state institutions, including via labor laws, shaped the core claims of labor rights in the 1980s and the 2000s, respectively. It also compares the forms of collective action that workers take to assert their rights in these two periods.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Rights Claiming in South Korea , pp. 195 - 216Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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