ABSTRACT
South Korea experienced two macro-level social changes, democratization and globalization, in the late twentieth century. In South Korea, the labour movement has been affected by the dynamics of political change and social change taking place at the global level and national level; both the political space in which they operate and their modes of participation have shifted. While industrialization started in the mid-1960s, industrial workers emerged as a new social class. But workers were a deprived social group with low pay and no social protection. Their political mobilization was also suppressed by the military regime until the military regime was itself in crisis in the late 1980s. The most fundamental factor in the development of workers' mobilization has been the building of various forms of associational power among workers. Historically, workers have developed four forms of associational power: unions, labour parties, networks with civil society organizations and supportive public opinion.
