Editorial introduction: Contesting social policies from the margins: Cases from Japan and Korea

Abstract

This themed section explores the lived experiences, perspectives, agency, and proposals of those systematically positioned at the ‘margins’ of social policy frameworks in Japan and South Korea. The articles focus on the cases of marginalised workers, providers of community care services, and female migrant workers. Employing the lens of structural injustice, the study highlights how these groups have been disadvantaged within the productivist and familial institutional structures of the two countries. The ‘margins’ in these countries have been occupied by people outside of the core employment relationship, such as atypical workers and those performing unpaid or poorly supported care work. Although similar marginalisation occurs globally, disadvantages have concentrated more acutely on these groups in Japan and Korea due to limited decommodification and defamilialisation persisting until recent decades. The articles provide insights into how structurally marginalised people can draw on their unique experiences and perspectives to reflect on existing injustices and potentially to catalyse social change. In the face of increasing labour market precarity and rising demands for care, the studies of this themed section have implications for social policy challenges in work and care beyond the region.