Everyday Peace Among Migrant Workers in South Korea: Strategic Plurality and Semiotic Asymmetry of Visibility

Abstract

This study explores the everyday peace practices of migrant workers in South Korea as they navigate employer dependence and marginalisation in the workplace. Drawing on qualitative interviews, the analysis identifies two primary approaches: defensive coexistence, which prioritises self-protection and conflict avoidance, and reciprocal engagement, which seeks to foster collaborative relationships with local Koreans. These distinct strategies are underpinned by two mechanisms: strategic plurality, the blending of distinct practices that results in a plurality of everyday peace; and semiotic asymmetric invisibility, the use of inconspicuous actions to navigate majority power. Theoretically, the study reconceptualises plurality and invisibility as strategic instruments of agency rather than symptoms of fragmentation or mere resistance. By centring this perspective, the article demonstrates that migrant workers not only proactively negotiate their structural constraints but also foster peace within informal spaces.

Keywords

Everyday peace migrant workers South Korea defensive coexistence reciprocal engagement plurality invisibility

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