Transnational youth mobility in the neoliberal economy of experience

Abstract

An increasing number of young people are making long-stay travels while postponing their transition to adulthood and seeking ‘global experience’. Among various forms of long-stay travel, the working holiday has been popular among young people looking for opportunities to work during travel. In order to empirically explore how global experience is negotiated by young travellers, this study analyses the narratives of 30 South Korean working holidaymakers in Toronto, Canada. The in-depth interviews reveal that the working holiday in Canada is considered by its participants to be a process of seeking the ‘true self’ and a way of enhancing social mobility, both of which lead to a sense of self-development. Drawing upon the empirical findings, the article suggests that the discourse of self-development naturalises a particular mode of neoliberal subjectivity and thus standardises the practice of global experience.

Keywords:

• youth mobility
• working holiday
• youth labour market
• neoliberalism
• Korean youth

Funding

This research was performed by the support of the Academy of Korean Studies in 2012.

Notes

1. As of 2012, the countries and their respective number of participants are as follows: Australia (34,344); Japan (5856); Canada (4069); Germany (1804); New Zealand (1803); Ireland (400); the UK (386); Taiwan (214); France (205); Hong Kong (127); Denmark (68); Sweden (44); Austria (4) and Czech Republic (2).

2. The respondents' pattern of cohabitation with parents seems to reflect the national tendency in which 78.8% of Koreans aged 20–24 years old and 58.5% of Koreans aged 25–29 years old lived in their parental homes as of 2004. These rates are significantly higher than those of Canada; according to the International Social Survey Programme conducted in 2001, the rates in Canada were 45.3% and 16.4%, respectively (Lee et al. 2010).

3. Despite the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which went into effect in March 2009, job applicants in their thirties or older are still largely discriminated against in Korea. Reportedly, some companies still specify an age limit for jobs, and applicants are still asked age-related questions in many job interviews in Korea (Moon 2009; Kim 2012).

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This research was performed by the support of the Academy of Korean Studies in 2012.