Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining in Minority Trade Unions

Kang, Youbin

doi:10.1163/24056901-00502007

Int. Labor Rights Case Law

2019

DOI: 10.1163/24056901-00502007

|View full text |Cite

Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining in Minority Trade Unions

Youbin Kang

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...

Citation Types

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Year Published

2024

Publication Types

Select...

Article1

Relationship

Self Cite0

Independent1

Authors

Journals

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Status Threat, Meritocracy, and the Politics of Solidarity in the Seoul Subway

Kang

2024

Social Problems

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How do educational credentials, status beliefs, and the labor process influence solidarity? In response to pro-labor employment policies that aimed at reversing precarious outsourcing contracts in the Seoul Subway, a cohort of younger, educated workers organized in opposition. Although their efforts were unsuccessful, the opposition marks a surprising shift in trade unionism. Drawing from archival research, ethnographic observations, and 60 interviews, I find that status anxieties were key drivers of the countermovement. This group of workers rejected the traditional “solidarity” approach in favor of a “skills” approach, citing the violation of meritocratic ideals habituated in educational systems and enabled in smaller, more independent work settings. Using employment data from the transit authority, I show how the resulting politics of skills classifications reiterates and reproduces extant gender and age inequalities of the workplace. This paper provides a workplace-specific case study of the conditions under which cultural beliefs about stratification take hold and raises questions about the fairness and effectiveness of relying on credentialing and education as tools for social mobility, given their role in perpetuating structural inequalities.

show abstract

Status Threat, Meritocracy, and the Politics of Solidarity in the Seoul Subway

Kang

2024

Social Problems

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

Contact Info

customersupport@researchsolutions.com

10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614

Henderson, NV 89052, USA

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Blog Terms and Conditions API Terms Privacy Policy Contact Cookie Preferences Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Made with 💙 for researchers

Part of the Research Solutions Family.

Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining in Minority Trade Unions

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

Status Threat, Meritocracy, and the Politics of Solidarity in the Seoul Subway

Status Threat, Meritocracy, and the Politics of Solidarity in the Seoul Subway

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About