Varieties of Precarity

Melting Labour and the Failure to Protect Workers in the Korean Welfare State

Sophia Seung-yoon Lee (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

210 Seiten

2023
Policy Press (Verlag)
978-1-4473-6925-7 (ISBN)

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Based on in-depth interviews with over 80 precarious workers in Korea, this book introduces the concept of 'melting labour' and provides a real depiction of how workers lose control over their lives and experience precariousness in labour markets.

Despite recent achievements in the South Korean economy and development within welfare institutions, new forms of precarious work continue to prevail.

This book introduces the concept of ‘melting labour’, which refers to the blurring of boundaries between traditional forms of work and workplace and the dissolution of standard employment relationships. Presenting a theoretical framework at the intersection of ‘melting labour’ and institutional protection of workers, it addresses how and why the Korean welfare state has failed to protect precarious workers.

Based on rich, in-depth interviews with over 80 precarious workers in Korea, from subcontracted manufacturing workers to platform workers, it provides a real depiction of how workers lose control over their lives and experience precariousness in labour markets.

Sophia Seung-yoon Lee is Professor of Social Policy in the Department of Social Welfare at Chung-Ang University.

1. Introduction: Melting labour and institutional inconsistency

2. Social protection policies and the South Korean labour market in comparative perspective

3. When insiders are kicked out: layoffs of regular workers in manufacturing

4. Same boat, different destiny: subcontracted workers in the Korean shipbuilding industry

5. Young and old outsourced female workers in call centres and cleaning services

6. Are freelancers really free? The Korean freelance labour market and the precarity of young freelancers

7. The digital precariat: various Korean platform workers and the new work logic

8. Conclusion: Towards universal institutional protection for precarious workers in the era of melting labour

Erscheinungsdatum	25.10.2023
Reihe/Serie	Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy
Zusatzinfo	30 Tables, black and white; 12 Illustrations, black and white
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik ► Sozialpädagogik
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
	Wirtschaft ► Volkswirtschaftslehre ► Makroökonomie
ISBN-10	1-4473-6925-4 / 1447369254
ISBN-13	978-1-4473-6925-7 / 9781447369257
Zustand	Neuware