The Politics of Hegemonic Despotism: A Case Study of the Seoul City Official “Spy-Making” Incident

( Jaeyoun Won ),( Minjee Lee ) 경남대학교 인문과학연구소 2021 人文論叢 Vol.54 No.-

This paper focuses on a case of the Seoul City Official “Spy-Making” Incident to examine the complex nature of politics in post-authoritarian South Korea. The series of “spy-making” incidents under military dictatorship in South Korea had been despotic, frequently involving physical violence and forced confessions. In this paper, we argue that the nature of the Seoul City Official “Spy-Making” Incident (2013) is much more complex, that it has another dimension of hegemonic citizenship practice in addition to the despotic state practice. In this sense, the old despotic “spy-making” practice is dying hard even in the post-authoritarian democratic regimes of South Korea. Theoretically, this paper aims to challenge and demystify Aihwa Ong’s notion of flexible citizenship in the context of the divided Koreas. While a chosen few might enjoy the privilege of “flexible citizenship” under the neoliberal democratic order, others fall prey to the rigidity of the new and lasting boundary-making politics.

Fanon Beyond Marx: Toward Sociology of (Post)Colonialism

Jaeyoun Won 한국사회학회 2009 韓國社會學 Vol.43 No.3

The issue of colonialism has not gained much attention from the Canons of Sociology, but R.W. Connell challenges us to rethink about the issues of Orientalism and colonialism within the traditions of sociology. In this paper, I take Connell’s work as legitimate challenges to one of the Canons, Marx, and consider Frantz Fanon’s works as devising what is missing in Marx’s theory. I consider Marx’s theory not as ‘iron doctrine,’ but as something can be revised and developed through continuous efforts by its critical successors, in this case, ? Frantz Fanon. Marx, like the rest of the Canons of sociology, is not exempt from Orientalism. My focus lies on how Fanon stretches and elaborates Marx’s theory in the colonial context. By bringing Fanon to the field of sociological theory, I attempt to rethink the Canons of Sociology in the context of colonialism.

Toward an “Eventful” Comparison of Post-Socialism

Jaeyoun Won 한국사회학회 2011 韓國社會學 Vol.45 No.3

In this paper, I explore a new, alternative way of conducting a comparative analysis of socialism in East Asia, based on Marx’s classical work, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, as well as recent developments in comparative sociology by George Steinmetz and William Sewell Jr., who emphasize a more fluid, nuanced type of time-space contingent comparison by going beyond the limits of conventional positivist comparison. My comparative cases are China and North Korea, the two remaining (post)socialist countries in East Asia. The discussion in this paper proceeds in three parts. First, I trace the origins of “absence of interaction effects” and false assumption of “Mutual Exclusiveness” in macro-causal comparison by scholars such as Theda Skocpol. Second, I then discuss the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte as a concrete case of conducting “eventful comparison,” an alternative to positivist macro-causal comparison. Finally, I explore a possibility of conducting “eventful comparison” of post-socialist transformation in two remaining socialist countries in East Asia ? China and North Korea.

WHY IS MARX CLASSICAL?

WON JAEYOUN(원재연) 서울대학교 사회발전연구소 2008 Journal of Asian Sociology Vol.37 No.2

The purpose of this paper is to partially provide an answer for the critical question of “Why Is Classical Theory Classical,” in the case of Karl Marx. This paper argues that Marx, as the canon of sociology is still relevant because of his contribution to contemporary sociology in his discussion of class formation and the comparative analysis of social revolutions, and that his classical work The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte has been extremely influential in shaping the theory and the method of contemporary sociology. I discuss how concepts and comparison in The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte provided a basis for further sociological studies, such as E. P. Thompson’s study on English working class formation as well as Barrington Moore’s comparisons among bourgeois revolution, revolution from above, and peasant revolution.

THE MAKING OF THE POST-PROLETARIAT IN CHINA

WON JAEYOUN(원재연) 서울대학교 사회발전연구소 2005 Journal of Asian Sociology Vol.34 No.2

안당(晏堂) 하경덕

원재연(Jaeyoun Won) 한국사회학회 2016 韓國社會學 Vol.50 No.2

이 논문은 한국사회학의 역사가 제도적인 학과들의 역사에 그치는 것이 아니라 그 이전에 활동했던 사회학자들과 그들의 연구 활동도 포함된다는 문제의식에서 출발한다. 그 한 사례로 하버드에서 사회윤리학 박사학위를 받았던 하경덕의 사회학에 대해서 논의한다. 하경덕은 사회학을 사회예술이라 부르며 사회의 개혁에 적극적으로 참여하는 실천적인 공공사회학자의 모습을 보였다. 이러한 그의 사상은 저작인 사회법칙론을 통해서 구체적으로 들어나는데, 사회연구에서는 자연과학과 같은 엄밀성을 가진 법칙은 찾을 수 없다는 주장이다. 본 논문은 2008년 이후 미국 하버드 대학 사료관에서 새로 발견된 자료들을 바탕으로 작성되었으며, 이론적으로는 마이클 부러보이의 ‘공공사회학’의 개념을 사용하여 하경덕의 사회학과 실천활동에 대한 논의를 전개하였다. 하경덕은 식민시기에서 탈식민사회로의 이행하는 격동기에 1) 전문사회학 저서를 통해 공공사회학의 지향을 보였으며, 2) 연희전문이라는 상아탑에서 공공사회학을 수행하였고, 또한 3) 언론인으로 시민사회에서도 공공활동을 수행하였던 선구적인 공공사회학자이었다. 이러한 세 가지 차원의 논의는 1) 전문사회학과 공공사회학의 연결성, 2) 상아탑 내부인 아카데미에서의 공공성, 그리고 3) 시민사회에서의 공공활동이라는 공공사회학의 다차원적인 가능성을 보여준다. 하경덕을 통해 본 한국사회학의 역사는 (탈)식민화, 분단, 그리고 전쟁 속에서 억압당하면서도 이에 저항하며 극복하고자 했던 공공사회학의 역사이기도 하다. K. D. Har (1897-1951) is one of the first pioneers of Korean sociology, and maybe the very first Korean public sociologist. He was the student of Richard Cabot and James Ford at Harvard and his book, Social Laws: A Study of the Validity of Sociological Generalizations, was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1930. In his book, he argued that sociology should not be treated as science as in the natural science, but rather as “social arts.” In this sense, he argues the need to engage in the public action to reform the society. However, his hope to become a public sociologist in Korea was oppressed due to the Japanese Colonial rule and the authoritarian post-colonial government of South Korea. Japanese colonial government regarded sociology as a discipline to teach the ideas of communism and social action, thus banned teaching sociology at universities in Korea. K. D. Har was not able to teach sociology, and eventually was kicked out from the university. After liberation from Japan, he pursued the career in journalism, but his newspaper was not allowed to publish due to its critical report on post-Colonial government of South Korea. Using K. D. Har as a case study, this paper discusses the potentials and limits of public sociology in (post) colonial context, and explores the challenges of global sociology in (post) colonial context.

사회주의 중국에서 ‘진리안의 삶' 의 모색

원재연(Jaeyoun Won) 한국인문사회과학회 2010 현상과 인식 Vol.34 No.3

본 논문은 중국지식인 류 샤오보의 사례를 통하여 사회주의 중국에서의 지식인과 저항을 논의 하며 ‘진리안의 삶’ 의 가능성을 타진해 보고자 한다. 천안문 민주화운동 20주년을 맞아 08헌장을 작성하며 중국 사회에 자유와 민주라는 화두를 던진 류 샤오보를 통하여 단순한 일희성이 아니며, 또한 비판을 넘어 책임을 지며 대안을 모색하는 저항의 모습은 어떤 것인가를 논의한다. The year 2009 marked the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, the 30th year of the reform, and the 20th year of the Tiananmen Massacre. The issues of Tiananmen and democracy has been taboo in China, but the Chinese human rights manifesto, Charter 08, was published at the end of 2008. Charter 08 takes its name from Charter 77 written by Vaclav Havel, and demands for constitutional democracy and human rights. This paper examines the potentials for Havel’s “Living in Truth”in the context of Chinese Socialism. In order to live in socialism peacefully, one is compelled to live within a lie, blindly following the discipline and order of the state. Liu Xiaobo was the most prominent intellectual for Charter 08, found guilty of “inciting subversion of state power”and sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment. This paper argues that Liu Xiaobo’s sustained, reflexive, and responsible resistance in the past twenty years can be a possible example of Living in Truth and Power of Powerless.

Post-socialist China: Labour relations in Korean-managed factories

Routledge 2007 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ASIA Vol.37 No.3

<P> How are labour relations practiced in Korean-managed factories in China? It is often said that labour relations in Korean transnational factories are abusive, even despotic. In this article, I argue that the disciplinary nature of labour relations in Korean factories in China is more complex and so multi-dimensional that they cannot be characterised as a simple economic matter of labour exploitation. These relations entail hierarchical segregation, normalising workers' behaviour through fines and salary reductions, personal degradation and dissimilar cultural practices.</P>

Division of Household Labor in Post-Socialist China

Jiaxin Li,Jaeyoun Won 서울대학교 사회발전연구소 2017 Journal of Asian Sociology Vol.46 No.2

This paper investigates how the Post-1980s Generation Couples in China organize household labor in their home. The Post-1980s generation is the new post-socialist Chinese generation who were born after the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution and who enjoyed the wealth and prosperity of the new China. They are the products of one-Child policy as well as reform and opening up, and unlike previous generation, they have been under heavy market pressure to survive in the stressful workplace after the dismantling of their old, work-based welfare. By examining the new generation of couples in China, this paper explores the intersection between generation and gender division of labor in the family in post-socialist transformation. Based upon qualitative data from a city of Guangzhou, this paper discusses the three distinguishing features of division of household labor, 1) flexible arrangement, 2) devaluation of housework, and 3) the persistence of patriarchy.

2016년 타이완 총선과 제3정당 시대역량(時代力量)의 등장

고금비 ( Keum Bee Koh ),원재연 ( Jaeyoun Won ) 서강대학교 동아연구소 2017 東亞 硏究 Vol.36 No.1

이 논문은 타이완의 `시대역량`이라는 새로운 정치세력의 입법원 진출과 제3정당 지위확보라는 `사건`을 통해 최근 진행된 타이완 사회의 변화와 세대교체를 논의하고자 한다. 이러한 변화는 기존 국민당과 민진당의 양당대결구도였던 타이완 정당정치에 새로운 변화가 나타났음을 보여주며, 그 배경에는 지난 2014년의 태양화운동과 2013년 군대인권유린사건 등의 반 국민당, 반 중국 정서를 나타내는 다양한 사건들이 있었다. 이러한 사건들을 통해 타이완에는 기존 국민당과 민진당이 아닌 새로운 제3세력이 제도정치에 진출할 수 있었던 것이다. 과거 집권정당인 중국국민당이 타이완의 과거를 보여주고, 현재 집권당인 민진당이 타이완의 현재 모습을 보여준다면, 젊은 신생정당인 시대역량은 타이완의 미래의 모습을 보여준다고 하겠다. 방법론적으로 이 논문은 사건사 분석(eventful analysis)의 전통에 서 있다. 사건사 분석은 개별적 사건들과 거시적 구조의 밀접한 관련성에 초점을 맞추는데, 본 논문에서는 태양화운동과 군대인권유린사건에 대한 논의를 통해서 타이완에서 시대역량의 제3정당화를 연결시키고자 한다. 이 논문에서 논의했던 신생정당 시대역량의 특징은 다음과 같이 정리할 수 있겠다. 첫 번째, 시대역량은 태양화운동의 연장선에 존재하는 정당이다. 두 번째, 시대역량은 중국과의 관계에 있어 국민당의 `92원칙`도 아니고 민진당의 모호한 정책도 아닌 명확한 타이완의 독립을 주장한다. 세 번째, 민진당 정권 아래에서 시대역량은 야당의 위치이다. 따라서 민진당과의 협조뿐만 아니라 갈등의 여지도 존재한다. On January 16th, 2016 Taiwan`s `New Power Party` successfully got into Taiwan`s National Assembly as a newly emerging third party. The rise of the New Power Party was possible due to recent changes in Taiwan politics, 1) the failure of Pro-China policy by the Nationalist Party, 2) Sunflower Movement, and 3) the human rights abuse and the sudden death of a soldier in the military. This study focuses on the case of the New Power Party as evidences of new changes in Taiwan politics - the decline of the old Nationalist party, resistance toward Pro-China Policies, as well as the rise of the new Taiwanese identity which emphasizes on freedom, democracy and human rights. KMT`s close relationship with China and the policy of neo-liberalism in the past eight years have led to dissatisfaction of many citizens, and the series of resistance and social movement have consequently entailed in opening the door for the new, third force in Taiwanese politics. It is still premature to tell whether the New Power Party will play a supporting role to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party or an oppositional force against it. As a minority party, the New Power Party does not have to worry about maintaining majority seats in the national assembly, and can be more vocal about Taiwanese independence. This case of the New Power Party is an example that activists and intellectuals in civil society join coalition to mobilize and eventually to enter the state politics.