Varieties of Precarity : Melting Labour and the Failure to Protect Workers in the Korean Welfare State by Sophia Seung-yoon Lee

ePDFs of chapters 1, 2 and 7 are available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND license. 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.
Binding: Hardback