Middle Class Challenges and Contested Futures in the USA and South Korea
1st Edition
Published on 26. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
215 pages
978-1-0364-7374-7 (ISBN)
Description
This book examines central challenges facing the middle class in the United States and South Korea. The US is the archetype of a liberal market economy with minimal state intervention, while South Korea exemplifies the developmental state, characterized by extensive state involvement in the economy and rapid industrialization and economic growth. Despite their distinct paths to post-industrial economies, the middle class in both nations has experienced labor market instability and widening economic inequality due to neoliberal political-economic labor market policies coupled with inadequate social protections. This book discusses macro-social changes and transformation of the middle class in the two countries, and their consequences for economic inequality, education, and family. It also presents policy ideas for revitalizing the middle class in both countries.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Arne L. Kalleberg | Kwang-Yeong Shin | Arne L. Kalleberg
Middle Class Challenges and Contested Futures in the USA and South Korea
Book
08/2025
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
€108.03
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Kwang-Yeong Shin, a CAU Fellow at Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea, focuses on social class, inequality, and welfare from a comparative perspective. His recent publications include Swedish Social Democracy: Labor, Welfare, and the Politics (2015) and Precarious Work in Asia (2022), co-authored with Kalleberg and Hewison. Shin investigates how labor market institutions and welfare policies shape social inequality. Kwang-Yeong Shin was President of the Korean Sociological Association (2017-2018).
Arne L. Kalleberg, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializes in the sociology of work, labor markets, and social stratification. He authored Good Jobs, Bad Jobs (2013) and Precarious Lives (2018). His latest book, Precarious Asia (2022), co-authored with Kwang-Yeong Shin and Kevin Hewison, explores global capitalism and work in Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia. Kalleberg served as the President of the American Sociological Association (2007-8) and currently edits Social Forces.
Arne L. Kalleberg, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializes in the sociology of work, labor markets, and social stratification. He authored Good Jobs, Bad Jobs (2013) and Precarious Lives (2018). His latest book, Precarious Asia (2022), co-authored with Kwang-Yeong Shin and Kevin Hewison, explores global capitalism and work in Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia. Kalleberg served as the President of the American Sociological Association (2007-8) and currently edits Social Forces.