Global knowledge capitalism, self-woven safety nets, and the crisis of employability

Abstract

In today’s global political economy, knowledge has become an asset, and workers are expected to arm themselves with an appropriate shield of knowledge that will make, and keep themselves employable in the era of flexibility and technological innovation. The emphasis on employability of individuals through workers’ creation of what I call selfwoven safety nets demonstrates an elite-led project to reduce government responsibility for employment welfare. The replacement of responsibility for training of the self, to the self, re-articulates coercion inherent to ongoing capitalist expansion, substituting workers’ political representation with what is ironically intended to result in workplace emancipation. This article looks at the case of worker training education policy in South Korea after the economic crisis of 1997 to make this claim