Capitalist development, the State, and big business in Korea : a sociological study of the Korean Chaebol

• Main Author: Kim, Yun-tÊ¿ae
• Published: London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) 1998
• Subjects: 301; Sociology
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.300169

This thesis is a sociological study of capitalist development, the state and big business in Korea. It also seeks to contribute to the theory of social class through an analysis of the internal and external relations of Korea's capitalist class. Historically, it traces the overall effect of the state and foreign capital on big business in Korea. The geopolitical environment and the expansion of the military and bureaucracy are of great significance in understanding the state structure and capacity, the authoritarian political system, and the governmentbusiness relationship. The Korean state sustained extensive structural relations with big business to implement its developmental goals, and big business became the leading agent of national economic development. The state also played an important part in shaping the ownership patterns, managerial system, and social networks of big business. Since the 1980s, however, the developmental state in Korea has gradually declined as a result of economic liberalisation and political democratisation. At the same time, the Korean bureaucracy is adapting itself to the new circumstances of the changing global economy. This state adaptability has established a new way to coordinate with the increasingly globalising big business groups. Thus post-1980 Korea can be seen as an example of such a developmental course in the transition from state-led industrialisation to state-business coordination and collaboration. Therefore, the increasingly strong big business class has developed a social coalition with the state elites, reinforced through formal and informal networks. The ultimate conclusions are that the Korean capitalist class constructed its structural relations with ruling groups, and achieved a dominant economic and social position in society. In other words, the economic class has become a social class through increasingly dense social networks with other elite groups, and it now acts as an integral part of the upper class.