The Review of Korean Studies
- P-ISSN1229-0076
- E-ISSN2773-9351
- SCOPUS, ESCI
ISSN : 1229-0076
Ambiguous Agency and Change: Life Stories of Working Women in a Seoul Marketplace
Abstract
This article explores the processes of self-formation among female street entrepreneurs (street vendors) and dressmakers (garment manufacturers) in the Dongdaemun Sijang (market) area in Seoul through an examination of their life stories. My aim is to delve deeply into the relationships of agency and change in the lives of women working in these marginalized sectors of the Korean economy. Through ethnographic research, I argue that the dominant notion of agency as resistance to constrictive structure cannot solely account for these women’s lives and experience of social change. They have enacted agency not only to resist structure, but also to enjoy pursuits of their diverse desires. This array of desires can be similar or differ among the women, coexist in a single woman’s life, and change according to life cycle and changes in broader society. The principal motors for, and effects of, their pursuit of desires are related to acquiring the capacity to do something in particular, and establishing relationships or relating to others in a particular way. I argue that even those actions taken without the aim of transforming constrictive gender and other social patterns can bring change over an extended period.
- keywords
- agency, change, street entrepreneurs, dressmakers, self-formation
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