From Factory Girls To K-Pop Idol Girls

Focusing On Female Idols' Proliferation In The South Korean Popular Music (K-Pop) Industry Since The Late 1990S, Gooyong Kim Critically Analyzes Structural Conditions Of Possibilities In Contemporary Popular Music From Production To Consumption. Kim Contextualizes The Success Of K-Pop Within Korea'S Development Trajectories, Scrutinizing How A Formula Of Developments From The Country' Rapid Industrial Modernization (1960S-1980S) Was Updated And Re-Applied In The K-Pop Industry When The State Had To Implement A Series Of Neoliberal Reformations Mandated By The Imf. To That End, Applying Michel Foucault'S Discussion On Governmentality, A Biopolitical Dimension Of Neoliberalism, Kim Argues How The Regime Of Free Market Capitalism Updates And Reproduces Itself By 1) Forming A Strategic Alliance Of Interests With The State, And 2) Using Popular Culture To Facilitate Individuals' Subjectification And Subjectivation Processes To Become Neoliberal Agents. As To An Importance Of K-Pop Female Idols, Kim Indicates A Sustained Utility/Legacy Of The Nation'S Century-Long Patriarchy In A Neoliberal Development Agenda. Young Female Talents Have Been Mobilized And Deployed In The Neoliberal Culture Industry In A Similar Way To How Un-Wed, Obedient Female Workers Were Exploited And Disposed On The Sweatshop Factory Floors To Sustain The State'S Export-Oriented, Labor-Intensive Manufacturing Industry Policy During Its Rapid Developmental Stage Decades Ago. In This Respect, Kim Maintains How A Post-Feminist, Neoliberal Discourse Of Girl Power Has Marketed Young, Female Talents As Effective Commodities, And How K-Pop Female Idols Exert Biopolitical Power As An Active Ideological Apparatus That Pleasurably Perpetuates And Legitimates Neoliberal Mantras In Individuals' Everyday Lives. Thus, Kim Reveals There Is A Strategic Convergence Between Korea'S Lingering Legacies Of Patriarchy, Developmentalism, And Neoliberalism. While The Current K-Pop Literature Is Micro-Scopic And Celebratory, Kim Advances The Scholarship By Multi-Perspectival, Critical Approaches. With A Well-Balanced Perspective By Micro-Scopic Textual Analyses Of Music Videos And Macro-Scopic Examinations Of Historical And Political Economy Backgrounds, Kim'S Book Provides A Wealth Of Intriguing Research Agendas On The Phenomenon, And Will Be A Useful Reference In International/ Intercultural Communication, Political Economy Of The Media, Cultural/ Media Studies, Gender/ Sexuality Studies, Asian