Korean political economy as a field of study is interdisciplinary in nature, comprising research by scholars within development studies, heterodox economics, politics, geography, sociology, anthropology, and beyond. By extension, its boundaries are often disjointed, fuzzy, and overlapping. This situation raises challenges for tracking progress and taking stock of the field in a manner that renders this material coherent for area studies in general and Korean studies in particular. Nonetheless, four recent books provide the rare opportunity to raise a number of salient issues regarding the orientation of this inchoate field for a Korean studies audience. While by no means representative of the broad swath of work that might fall under the category of Korean political economy, these books nonetheless raise a number of important questions about what has been missing in the study of Korea’s political economy, how the field and the phenomenon itself are changing, and where it might...
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Book Review|
March 01 2019
Strategies, Struggles, and Sites of Transformation in Korean Political Economy
Strategic Coupling: East Asian Industrial Transformation in the New Global Economy
by Yeung, Henry W. C.. Ithaca, NY
: Cornell University Press
, 2016
. 312
pp. 27 tables. 4 charts. $89.95 (cloth). 29.95 (paper).Capitalist Development in Korea: Labour, Capital and the Myth of the Developmental State
by Chang, Dae-oup. New York
: Routledge
, 2009
. 224
pp. $115 (cloth).Inequality in the Workplace: Labor Market Reform in Japan and Korea
by Song, Jiyeoun. Ithaca, NY
: Cornell University Press
, 2014
. 248
pp. 12 tables. 17 charts. $49.95 (cloth).South Korean Civil Movement Organisations: Hope, Crisis, and Pragmatism in Democratic Transition
by Levine, Amy. Manchester, UK
: Manchester University Press
, 2016
. 176
pp. 5 illustrations. £75 (cloth).Journal of Korean Studies (2019) 24 (1): 173–181.
Citation
Jamie Doucette; Strategies, Struggles, and Sites of Transformation in Korean Political Economy. Journal of Korean Studies 1 March 2019; 24 (1): 173–181. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/21581665-7258107
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