The power of representation in reproduction: a case study of South Korean industrialization

Abstract

The perennial problem that lies at the heart of an intellectual understanding of an event is usually the lack of interdisciplinarity. In the case of South Korean industrialization there appears to be a divide seldom bridged between economists, political economists and sociologists as they scramble to claim knowledge of and explain the reasons behind South Korea's so-called "economic miracle." This essay begins to bridge the divide by presenting a counter-coherence to the economic miracle by problematizing the relations of power and hegemony between state and labor. The two contending literatures of "developmental state" theory and "Confucian capitalism" will serve as a platform from which to spring into a critical analysis and re-intellectualization of the form, nature and manifestations of power.