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This chapter explores wrath in consumers’ collective opposition of wind power by employing rhetoric analysis revealing the explicit verbal forms of wrath. Through a rhetorical lens, the chapter analyzes a case in which resistance succeeded in putting an end to the development of a wind power park in a rural area in Finland. The chapter advances knowledge on how wrath, as a moral emotion of injustice, is expressed in public. The findings show how wrath underlies the ways in which activists try to influence their adversaries as well as to mobilize support among consumer allies. In particular, wrath is expressed through three rhetorical strategies: the morality, the evidence, and the victimization rhetorics. Wrath is visible in “ethos appeals,” but is also used as a resource in framing arguments of more rational as well as emotional characters. Overall, the findings suggest that wrath plays an important role in influencing and mobilizing consumer resistance.

This chapter explains the history, performance, and assessment of works councils in Korea. Works councils were mandated by law in 1963 as an instrument of the government to evade militant unions. Currently, all private-sector business organizations with at least 30 workers must operate a works council. The consequences of works councils in Korea is yet undetermined. Labor unions in Korea have consistently criticized works councils as being puppets of employers. But survey-based analysis demonstrates that works councils play a pseudo wage bargaining role similar to the role played by unions in collective bargaining, despite not having the legal right to do so. Researchers have shown that works councils are a complement, not substitute for labor unions. Considering the decades-old downward trend in union density and a negative shift in workers’ attitudes towards collective representation, works councils may work to represent workers’ interests in the increasing number of non-union workplaces in Korea.

Organisations have been increasingly aware of the importance of promoting environmental sustainability as one means of fulfilling a role in corporate social responsibility. Using data from 194 Hong Kong managerial and professional employees collected through two waves of online survey, we examined the impact of three proximal factors, autonomy at work, management involvement, and intrinsic motivation on workplace green behaviour (i.e., champion green behaviour, conventional green behaviour, paper use and electricity use). Our results showed that (1) employees’ intrinsic motivation and management expectations of acting green were significant predictors of workplace green behaviour; (2) autonomy at work was related only to champion green behaviour; and (3) the presence of committees or designated personnel on promoting green initiative was not related to employees’ workplace green behaviour.

Energy consumption in offices is particularly important amongst the environmentally impacting activities of office workers. Almost 70 per cent of this consumption is electricity, with information and computing technologies amongst the highest uses. In this chapter, we explore the question of whether individual energy feedback can influence behaviour. Research evidence on feedback in the home is reviewed but despite extensive research, the mix of approaches, small sample sizes and absence of control groups, baseline usage and inferential statistical analysis pose a challenge to conclusive findings – published studies report wide variation. In the workplace, approaches, interventions and outcomes have also been varied. A common conclusion of such studies is that interventions in the workplace can contribute to behaviour change and reduction in energy consumption and, in particular, that feedback can be an effective component of intervention. However, the chapter concludes that, despite a rapidly growing empirical base, definitive findings from the workplace remain elusive. The psychological mechanisms by which feedback may work are still unknown. Information deficit alone is insufficient as an explanation. The most promising constructs to explore further are motivation and meaning, awareness (even though we know that raised awareness in itself does not necessarily result in changed behaviour) and self-efficacy. Behaviour change requires motivation beyond the provision of information. Furthermore, the time for feedback aimed simply at energy reduction is gone. As economies shift towards lower carbon, the issue is no longer one of less energy use but shifting energy use to renewable sources alongside reducing waste. Energy at work is consumed in a collective endeavour and workers should be involved in energy-saving strategies.

This chapter details the legal framework, precedents and judicial direction of worker rights and enforcement in Korea. Korean labor and union law was established in 1953, and the labor law system covers three distinct areas: the contractual relationship between individual workers and employers; the process and rights for organizing and dissolving labor unions and their operating principles; and the legal system related to the operation of labor-management councils within the workplace. Despite a strong legal framework in many dimensions such as dismissal protections, worker rights are eroded through restrictions on industrial action, cultural practice, lack of enforcement, and the inconsistency and capriciousness of judicial rulings.

This chapter assesses the degree of gender inequality in Korea based on available statistics concerning gender employment and wage gaps. Gender inequality has persisted and has become durable over the last decade. Although women’s economic activity and labor force participation have increased, the gender gap remains strikingly wide in terms of both the employment rate and wages. This is due to three factors. First, Korea’s long-working-hours culture and breadwinner ideology unduly burden women with caregiving, an unsustainable role for the employed. Second, women are concentrated in low-wage, insecure, contingent employment with low protection and no representation as a result of labor flexibilization policies from the 1990s. Finally, the feminization of part-time low-quality work will continue to hinder women’s full integration into the labor market. We conclude with a discussion of the implication of our findings for policies that seek to better integrate work and family lives.