Working-in-commons in the middle of precarity: the legacy of the urban commons movement of South Korea in the 1970s

This article explores the endogenous characteristics of commons within the frameworks of precarity and commons through the urban commons movement in 1970s South Korea. During Korea's compressed capitalist transformation, rural migrants became the urban poor, occupying the lowest position in urban labour hierarchies. Through qualitative research methods and historical analysis, we examine the Nangok shantytown in Seoul, demonstrating how commons production is shaped by specific socio-cultural, geographical, and anthropological realities. Despite their marginalised status in a patriarchal society, urban poor housewives emerged as agents of an urban commons movement by developing new urban sensibilities, challenging the capitalist norms of work and home and the conventional community practice. This article reveals how their “working-in-commons” constituted new social relationships, illuminating how people's collective attempts to reorganise livelihoods transcend the work/home or production/reproduction dichotomy. Our analysis enhances the understanding of the commons movement as rooted in everyday urban struggles in rapidly urbanising societies.