The Making of the Korean Nail Salon Niche in New York City

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국문화인류학회
· 수록지 정보 : 한국문화인류학 / 50권 / 3호 / 239 ~ 281페이지
· 저자명 : 한정우

초록

Based on fieldwork in New York City, in this study I delve into how Korean immigrant women are able to make nail salons in the New York area into their own niche. Beginning with the story of a Korean woman working in a hair salon, who left it to start her own nail shop, and continuing with the creation of chain salons, I present the story to illuminate Korean women’s entrepreneurship in opening up the nail service sector. I examined the female immigrant workforce as an ethnic enclave, set within the context of the restructuring of the US economy, as well as both extremes of service sectors of the ‘global city’.
In the ‘global city’, the incorporation of women into the service workforce has different dynamics at the high and low ends of this service sector.
While middle and upper–class women enter into the paid labor force as professionals or white–collar support staff, minority women and, increasingly, immigrant women fill the housekeeping, childcare, food preparation, and beauty/body related jobs that enable the smooth operation of both the workplace and the lives of the professionals. In this environment, Korean women adapted to the growing opportunities in the service sector by carving out a business niche for nail care, which once had been done in private households but became a new form of service in the public arena.
Thus from the beginning, gender played an important role in an expanding service sector, and in incentives that have enabled Korean women to establish this profitable entrepreneurial and employment niche. The incentives are a female–centered work environment, low capital requirements for startup, self–sufficient management by women proprietors, availability of nail salon workers, and flexibility of work hours in relation to childcare demands.
However, in the face of state regulation, as well as intra– and inter–ethnic competition, salon proprietors have engaged in the organization, KANSA (Korean American Nail Salon Association in New York) which plays a pivotal role in maintaining industry dominance. Koreans have also integrated several types of businesses, resulting in an interdependence among co–ethnic nail salons, nail material suppliers, producers, and nail schools. This means that ethnic resources are one of the foundations of making Korean nail salon niche.

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