Abstract
The movement of people is considered to be one of the structural characteristics of the world economy. Capitalist development has always been dependent on the migration of labour both within and across national boundaries. In the context of North-South relations, the industries and transnational enterprises from the highly developed countries of the ‘north’ expand into the developing countries in the ‘south’ through direct foreign investment and international subcontracting.1 Existing industries in the ‘south’, particularly export-oriented agriculture, manufacturing, and component assembly industries, require a large supply of low-wage workers, and mobilize large numbers of people into wage labour. As a result of labour recruitment, the mobilization of new workers including women into the labour force becomes significant, in turn disrupting traditional work structures.2 As a result, traditional industries have declined gradually, rural populations have been uprooted and an urban pool of wage labourers and potential migrants has been created. Simultaneously, a foreign presence dominates the new industrial zones objectively and culturally, creating linkages to the countries from which the capital originates.3
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© 1994 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Sellek, Y. (1994). Illegal Foreign Migrant Workers in Japan: Change and Challenge in Japanese Society. In: Brown, J.M., Foot, R. (eds) Migration: The Asian Experience. St Antony’s. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23678-7_9
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