Seunghoon Yang
Sociologist & ethnographer
From the field
Into the research
Organization, technology & geography
I study organizations, engineers, and the places shaped by technological change. My work brings organizational sociology into conversation with science and technology studies and economic geography.
Mixed-methods social science
- Ethnography
- Interviews
- Historical research
- Quantitative analysis
Research
Research overview →Long-term research program · Initial concept
The Korean Mode of Production through an Organizational Lens: Cross-Industry and Cross-National Comparative Research
Organizational capabilities & technological change
Why do accumulated executional routines fail to transform into a new architectural regime?
Technology in organizations
What organizational conditions obstruct or reshape the adoption of smart factories, digital twins, and physical AI?
Engineers & Economic Geography
How do production organizations and labor markets shape the formation, mobility, and settlement of engineers and the spatial division of regional economies?
Long-term & ongoing research
Selected work
All publications →- Seunghoon Yang, So Young Kim · Journal of Asian Public Policy (SSCI): 1-17 · 2026DOI
Examines the precarious work that keeps smart shipyard data stable.
- Seunghoon Yang, So-Young Kim · Asian Journal of Technology Innovation (SSCI) 34(2): 436-459 · 2026ResearchGateDOI
Examines how industrial patriarchy shapes women engineers’ entry and retention in southeastern South Korea.
The Utopia of the Heavy-Industry FamilyReads the formation and fractures of Geoje’s shipbuilding economy through the interlocking worlds of companies, families, and the city.
Recent publications
- '보수화'의 이면 — 가시적 소수와 미지근한 다수, 동남권 청년의 정치 감각
The Other Side of ‘Conservatization’: The Visible Minority, the Lukewarm Majority, and the Political Sensibility of Young Adults in Southeastern Korea
- The Human Backend of Smart Shipyards: Data Stability and Precarious Work in the South Korean Shipbuilding Industry
- Gender, Engineering, and Innovation in South Korea: An Empirical Investigation of the Industrial Patriarchy of the Southeastern Region
- 공중부양하는 공장 — 세 가지 역사적 계기를 통해 살피는 현대자동차 울산공장의 위상 변화
Levitating Factory: The Changing Status of Hyundai Motor's Ulsan Plant through Three Historical Moments
2025 · Coauthored
After the Square: Beyond Hatred, Polarization, and Generational Discourse
광장 이후 — 혐오, 양극화, 세대론을 넘어 (공저)
2024
Ulsan Dystopia: The Dismal Future of a Manufacturing Powerhouse
울산 디스토피아 — 제조업 강국의 불안한 미래
Examines the limits of South Korea’s manufacturing-led growth model through labor, urban change, and generations in Ulsan.
2019
The Utopia of the Heavy-Industry Family
중공업 가족의 유토피아 — 산업도시 거제, 빛과 그림자
Reads the formation and fractures of Geoje’s shipbuilding economy through the interlocking worlds of companies, families, and the city.