More than 80,000 prisoners in state, federal, and private prisons work for private and for-profit industries in the United States, which is a relatively small, but rapidly growing, portion of the total number of incarcerated individuals. The main purpose of this article is to use critical concepts from Foucauldian theory to explore the relationship between incarceration and labor exploitation in the U.S. prison system. To do this, this article reviews the core Foucauldian concepts and assumptions that are relevant to explaining prison labor; applies those concepts and assumptions to the prison labor issue; and discusses a possible way for conducting an empirical study. Additionally, three implications for social work, policy intervention, and the Korean society in reference to the theory are discussed. This article suggests that understanding Foucault should be a priority to tackle forced control, unequal power, and the immobility of social and economic status embedded in the most marginalized and vulnerable populations.

Since the amendment of Child Welfare Law in 2003, the regional centers for children have been a part of the child welfare system, providing child-care services for families in poverty. In Korea, the regional centers for children were established during the poverty movement in the 1970s and have been developed as childcare providers for poor children since the financial crisis. However, the identity of regional centers for children is being threatened as the universal perspective on caring and the public values of caring services are being strengthened. There has raised a controversy around the role of regional centers for children that provide child-care services for vulnerable families. In addition, the survival of the regional centers for children is being threatened due to some issues regarding the content of their program as it is similar to those of other child-care agencies, the lack of cooperation among the ministries of government addressing public needs for child-care services, the poor working conditions of center employees, and the poor quality of services. The purpose of this study is to examine the formation process of the regional centers for children. After that, we discuss the current issues of the regional centers for children and seek alternatives that can settle the problems and respond properly to social changes.

Recently, K-pop is leading the development of Korean pop culture. And it has established itself as a culture that is accepted and maintained voluntarily by the public worldwide. Cultural development in a region is important because it is a product of the social quality of society. With the debut of ‘Seo Taiji and Boys’ in 1992, the idol group music began in Korea. At present, BTS has formed a global fandom and has become one of the most successful cases among Hallyu content. Therefore, for the development of Korean pop music industry, this study analyzes in various ways what strategies of BTS have made them successful.