Kanika Ussasarn. Subjectivity and experience of socail suffering of Thai undocumented laborers in South Korea. Doctoral Degree(Social Sciences and Health). Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. : Mahidol University, 2019.
Subjectivity and experience of socail suffering of Thai undocumented laborers in South Korea
Abstract:
The objectives of this research were to analyze the power relationship and social structure that affected subjectivity and experience of social suffering of the Thai undocumented laborers in South Korea and to understand how they construct practices to negotiate with social sufferings. This was a multi-sited ethnography that used fifteen participants and thirty-five key informants selected using purposive sampling. In-depth interview and participant observation were used in collecting data both in two rural villages in Thailand and in one rural village in South Korea. The results showed that marginalization of the government development forced people to change their way of life from peasants to migrant laborers. The participants perceived their undocumented labor status in diverse meanings impacted on emotions, thoughts and practices in everyday life. As Thai undocumented laborers, participants faced with exploitation and discrimination in working places, physical and verbal abuses, sexual harassment, work-related illness and inaccessibility to health care services, and fear for arrest and deportation. Participants; however, could construct various practices to solve their sufferings. The results could be applied to guide related government organizations to accept a precise labor supply by Korean employers and adjust an appropriate regulation for employment permit system. Thai undocumented laborers, therefore, could access more to the government employment.