publication . Article . 2015

Ethnic Mobilization among Korean Dry Cleaners

Name: Ethnic mobilization among Korean dry-cleaners
Keywords: Social and Behavioral Sciences, Cultural Studies, Sociology and Political Science, Anthropology

Ward F. Thomas; Paul M. Ong;

Open Access English

Published: 21 May 2015

Publisher: eScholarship, University of California

Country: United States

Summary

Abstract

Korean immigrants in the U.S. rely heavily on ethnic resources to start small businesses. Ethnic resources include business networks and knowledge, start-up capital, and access to labor power that are embedded in networks of family, friends, and co-ethnics. This paper shows how Korean dry cleaners in Southern California used ethnic resources to mobilize in response to an environmental policy initiated by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). While Korean immigrants used ethnic resources to start dry cleaning businesses, they found themselves working with a toxic chemical. In 2002, AQMD required dry cleaners in Southern California to convert...

doi: 10.1080/01419870.2015.1036092

Subjects

free text keywords: Social and Behavioral Sciences, Cultural Studies, Sociology and Political Science, Anthropology, Collective action, Environmental policy, Mobilization, Social science, Immigration, media_common.quotation_subject, media_common, Ethnic group, Business, Toxic chemical, Dry cleaning, Labour power, Economic growth

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