(Ine)quality of life: Lithuanian labor migration to Sweden during the economic crisis and its aftermath, 2008–2013

ABSTRACT

This article connects micro and macro scales of inequality to Lithuanians’ decisions to depart to Sweden during the economic crisis with austerity measures and its aftermath (2008–2013). This period revealed unequal opportunities regarding the quality of life that were largely created by the gradual re-commodification of labor as well as unaddressed income and social inequalities which had existed since the 1990s. Nevertheless, macro inequalities did not directly lead to the exit decision. Rather, this was bound to the individual’s perception of the leaving opportunity and (possible) quality of life for oneself and one’s family across time and space.     

The Organisational Culture of the Chaebol and Workplace Inequality: Stunted Mobilities of Korean Chinese Employees in a Beijing Subsidiary

The chaebol’s organisational culture was the target of much criticism when the Asian financial crisis hit the Korean economy in 1997. Despite much research on the topic over the past two decades, there continues to be a lack of consensus on the efficacy of reforms implemented since then. While some have focused on persisting patterns of paternalism, others have highlighted the structural changes implemented. This article revisits this debate by analysing the ways in which culture influences the implementation of structural reforms as a legitimating ideology. By analysing ethnographic data of a chaebol subsidiary in Beijing, the article demonstrates how cultural tropes of the company as a family and women as caretakers, popularised under the Park Chung Hee regime, have continued to shape perceptions of competence in the workplace. In particular, despite the crucial role that Korean Chinese employees have played in helping the chaebol penetrate Chinese markets, their bilingual and bicultural skills are devalued. Instead, the feminisation of their labour has justified their continuing marginalisation in the firm.