• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.83
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• pp.157-185
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• 2017

The present study examines the dialectic tensions arising within the ICT-mediated labor culture between the dominant power of conglomerates and the precarious labor subjects in the labor practices, as smartphones and tablet PCs have grown in popularity. The present study explores how much young precarious workers named 'Cheongyeon Alba' (young precariat in S Korea) suffers from continually precarious job positions as temporary staff or contract workers, being trapped at the bottom of the pay scale, and also being electronically connected to the workplace in a seamless way. Concretely, this study investigates how the mobile phone becomes deeply entangled with the 'precarious' labor culture in the metropolitan city of Seoul. The mobile precariat has been in a disadvantaged position, in terms not only of the moral issue of exploitation in business but also of social injustice. Labor exploitation of young workers has been reinforced by the mobile labor culture, in which they are remotely monitored by live surveillance mobile apps, and mobile instant messaging from a boss can intrude incessantly into their private life. This study depicts the extension of the business's surveillant power by mobilizing the mobile phone in the working practices.