Abstract

In minjung history, the worker was the protagonist of the anti-imperialistic struggle for national liberation and the leader of revolutionary change in the capitalistic system of South Korea. As such, the proletariat were important subjects in minjung historiography, which sought to overcome the colonial and divisional view of history. Similar to how the intense minjung movement during produced the study of minjung history from the 1980s to the 2000s, the importance of the history of the labor movement has continued to influence and be influenced by the site of labor on the ground and by research into the labor movement. In this article, I first examine the context and major characteristics of research on the South Korean labor movement from the 1980s to early 1990s. Next, I examine how, from the late 1990s, research on labor history expanded as research on minjung history declined. Finally, I explore how the history of the labor movement shifted to a history of labor, as well as the characteristics and limitations of studies of labor history. Finally, I propose accepting the critical inquiries and research achievements of the new minjung history and the field of minority history in order to continue the praxis-oriented nature of research on labor history.