 Labor Control and Labor Relations in the Maquiladora Industry: A Study of Korean Maquiladora Firms*Donmoon Cho International Area Studies Review, 2001, vol. 4, issue 2, 61-87 Abstract: Although the protracted labor dispute in Hanyong attracted public attention, labor relations in Korean maquiladora firms have been relatively unexamined thus far. This study identifies labor relations in the Korean maquiladora firms as a typical despotic mode of domination, which is closer to the West coast type than to the Mexican gulf type. To explain the selection and reproduction of the despotic mode of domination, this study analyzes everyday practices of labor control on the shop floor. Korean managers exercise various types of labor control: the consensual type, mobilizing consent on the part of workers; the remunerative type, mobilizing the sense of rewarding; and the repressive type, mobilizing the fear of oppression and retaliation. None of the three types of labor control work effectively and workers remain dissatisfied with the labor conditions and the way labor control is exercised. What the Korean firms choose to do is to oppress worker discontent and prevent it from developing into mass mobilization and upheaval. This is why the despotic mode of labor relations takes shape and reproduces itself in the Korean maquiladora firms. Date: 2001 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:intare:v:4:y:2001:i:2:p:61-87 DOI: 10.1177/223386590100400204 Access Statistics for this article More articles in International Area Studies Review from Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.