Large corporations and the dominant wing of the capitalist class in South Korea

This study addresses two interrelated issues: (1) the ascendence of the industrial bourgeoisie in the postwar period and the particular development of capitalism in South Korea; and (2) the internal structure of the capitalist class.;Second, this study refutes managerialist claims of the breakdown of property-owning class in favor of class hegemony theory. Korea's large corporations are owned and controlled by relatively few of the industrial bourgeoisie. The capitalist class is internally differentiated along the line of property ownership. The members of the propertied class were interconnected with other members of Korea's ruling class vis-a-vis extensive marriage ties and successfully converted their economic assets to cultural capital. This study argues that the most critical factor underlying class hegemony in Korea is the ownership of property and social networks established to consolidate class unity. Even though the industrial bourgeoisie wields monopolistic economic power and exclusive claim over corporate control, their hegemonic rule over 'civil society' is not complete. Ideological hegemony remains problematic for the Korean bourgeoisie who lacked moral legitimacy due to the nature of capital accumulation and political support of military rule over the past four decades.;Third, direct participation of capitalists in the state bureaus in Korea was not significant in comparison with advanced societies because of the different formation and structure of the ruling class in Korea where state elites--the military and economic technocrats--wielded much political power. Yet the dominant segment of the class has been successful in transmitting economic interests into the policy-making process through the peak organization of the Federation of Korean Industries.;The first finding of this study is that the internal composition and hegemonic ascendence of the Korean bourgeoisie were outcomes of historical contingency. Land reform undertaken during the formative period of Korean capitalism contributed to elimination of the landed class and provided a fertile condition for the rise of an industrial bourgeoisie. Since the 1960s the state, in its role as banker, has supported the emergence and development of industrial capitalists. Given the state's provision of financial capital and the relative absence of foreign capital, the Korean industrial capitalists have achieved primacy in the economic realm. During the market liberalization of the 1980s, the hegemonic position in the nation's economy held by the large corporations led to an erosion of state regulatory power.