Organizing at the Margins: The Symbolic Politics of Labor in South Korea and the United States

Abstract

[Excerpt] What might the striking convergence in the trajectories of the South Korean and U.S. labor movements mean for the dynamics of change taking place for labor on a global scale? To what extent does the embrace of marginalized groups of workers such as immigrants and women by previously exclusionary labor movements signal the development of more inclusive and democratic forms of labor politics? How can workers subject to overlapping forms of social, economic, and political marginality actually transform the unequal relations of power and domination that underpin downgraded forms of employment? The answers to these questions constitute the heart of this book. What unfolds is a story about a sea change in the dynamics of labor politics and organization. South Korea and the United States have two different paths of industrial development, histories of class formation, and positions in the larger world economic system, yet both labor movements are experiencing profound shifts in who the "working class" is and how to build collective power under processes of globalization.