Showing papers in "Development and Society in 2013"

Consecrating or Desecrating Filial Piety?:Korean Elder Care and the Politics of Family Support

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between the characteristics of family change and the delayed social perception of older people"s care in Korean society. The divergent and conflicting representations of the elderly and elder care found within family law, mass media (mainly newspapers), and academic research from the 1980s to the present were analyzed in order to understand how family support became a source of political conflict between patriarchal interests and women"s interests during the period of compressed family change in Korean society. The main argument is that weakening family care for the elderly largely resulted from resistance against coerced care imposed on women by the authoritarian family relation. Nevertheless, this study also finds that the attempt to consecrate family support and to suppress the conflicts over family support persist and negatively affect elderly care.

"Structural Disaster" Long Before Fukushima: A Hidden Accident

Abstract: This paper attempts to shed fresh light on the structural causes of the Fukushima accident by illuminating the patterns of behavior of the agents involved in the little-known but serious accident that occurred immediately before World War Ⅱ. Despite the expected incalculable damages caused by the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, critical information was restricted to government insiders. This state of affairs reminds us of the state of prewar Japanese wartime mobilization in which all information was controlled under the name of supreme governmental authority. This paper argues that we can take the comparison more seriously as far as the patterns of behavior of the agents involved are concerned. The conceptual tool that is employed to that end is the "structural disaster" of the science-technology-society interface. This paper will contextualize the sociological implications of this prewar accident that happened long before the Fukushima accident for all of us who face the post-Fukushima situation with particular focus on the subtle relationship between success and failure.

Risk or Totem?: Semantics of Child in Korean Risk Society

Abstract: In a risk society, intimacy falls under the category of rational management and individual reflexivities. Children are not an exception. This article attempts to shed light on this newly emerging figure of child in risk societalization of Korean society. We propose to grasp this figure of child as a risk-totem. For this, we refer to an important concept of Luhmann called self-observation of society. According to this insight, society observes itself through the mass media, sciences (sociology), and culture. In this context, we analyzed two major forms of self-observation of contemporary Korean risk society on the subject of child in particular: child abduction films and discourses on risk society. Through the examination of these two forms of self-observation of society, the semantics of child in a risk society are determined as a risk-totem.

Type of Trust and Political Participation in Five Countries: Results of Social Quality Survey

Abstract: This article classifies types of trust by combining general trust, interpersonal trust, and institutional trust based on the hypothesis that individuals have different types of trust. The results of this article show different shapes of types of trust distribution in South Korea, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Also, multinomial logit analysis reveals that each type of trust is influenced by certain conditions. Four types (△distrust, △institution-oriented trust, △person-oriented trust, and △full trust) are drawn from latent class analysis. Age, monthly income, network, financial crisis experience, and participation in private association are proven to have a critical impact on types of trust. Analysis shows that South Korea, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Turkey have different distribution of types of trust. Institution-oriented trust, personoriented trust, and full trust type respectively account for about 25% in Germany. Turkey has a relatively higher percentage of institution-oriented trust type. In contrast, distrust type accounts for more than two-thirds in South Korea, Italy, and Greece. Finally, logit analysis was conducted to figure out the role of types of trust in four kinds of political participation (△online expression, △expressing one’s opinion toward governments or media, △participating in activities such as political campaigns, demonstrations, and strikes, and △voting) as dependent variables. The result shows that institution-oriented trust type people are more likely to participate in expressing their opinions toward governments or media and voting than distrust type. Also, personoriented trust type people are more likely to express their opinions toward governments or media and participate in political campaigns, demonstrations, and strikes than distrust type. Finally, full trust type people show higher presence in three non-institutional political participations.

Group Membership and Context of Participation in Electoral Politics among Korean, Chinese, and Filipino Americans*

Abstract: Asian Americans have fallen behind other ethnic groups with regard to political participation, despite being one of the fastest growing populations and having achieved socioeconomic advantages over the last few decades. This paper examines this puzzle by looking at a demographic and socioeconomic portrait of major Asian-American groups and their participation patterns in electoral politics. The paper focuses on a host of factors, such as group membership, generation, assimilation, and political and community contexts, that go beyond individual level attributes. The paper explores particularly how group-specific political and community contexts mediate voting behavior differently or similarly across three major Asian groups?Korean, Chinese, and Filipino Americans?based on a review of existing research, secondary data from the Current Population Surveys of 2000, 2004, and 2008, and the 2011 American Community Survey.

Regional Community Building in Northeast Asia in a Global Context

Abstract: In the context of power shift from Europe to Asia, Asia is creating a new history as the most dynamic region in the world. Historically, Asian countries have long maintained cultural and institutional connections within the region through constant contact, exchange, trade, and warfare. These cultural and institutional linkages serve as a cohesive factor for Asian countries to converge on regional commonness despite intraregional disparities. When looking at Northeast Asia, the center of Asian dynamism, the region’s future is beset by serious challenges and threats, complicated by historical conflicts and territorial disputes. Building a regional community is crucial to turn tension and conflict to cooperation and coexistence in the region, but it is hampered by hegemonic competition under the rise of nationalism. As a way out, they should take both economic and cultural approaches toward the creation of regional community according to bilateral principles based upon one-to-one negotiations. In this regard, the non-expansionary stance of Korea so far gives her a moral hegemonic precedence over China and Japan in Northeast Asian community building.

Social Risks and Class Identification after the Financial Crisis in Korea

Abstract: This study examines the experiences of social risks such as unemployment, decrease in income, decrease in property, weakening family bonds, deterioration of health and their effects on middle class identification, and self-identified social stratification during the Korean financial crisis. The financial crisis in 1997 fundamentally transformed the density of the middle class and middle class identification declined rapidly in Korea. This study has found that unemployment was the strongest factor to significantly reduce middle class identification. The association between social risks and self-ranked social stratum also reveal the negative impact of economic crisis. Social risks such as unemployment and the deterioration of health around the economic crisis turned out to be significant factors in Koreans lowering their own social stratum ten years after economic crisis. Job instability also had a lasting impact on being ranking themselves lower on the social stratum. This study concludes that after the economic crisis, employment, job stability and physical health conditions are significant factors to affect sustaining or elevating middle class identification and how Koreans rank their own social status.

The Economic Value of Bilingualism among 1.5- and Second-Generation Korean Americans

Abstract: This study examines whether there is an earnings premium for fluent bilingualism among 1.5-generation and U.S.-born Korean Americans in the labor market. The data come from the 2009-2011 American Community Surveys, and the sample is restricted to wage and salary workers. Logged annual wage and salary income was regressed on two dummy variables for bilingual competence?bilingual with fluent English proficiency and bilingual with limited English proficiency (English monolingual as reference category), controlling for indicators of human capital and the language-use environment. Findings show greater economic returns to fluent bilingualism among 1.5-generation Korean women and U.S.-born Korean men, but there is no convincing evidence of a wage premium for fluent bilingualism among U.S.-born Korean women. Surprisingly, there is evidence of wage penalties for fluent bilingualism among 1.5-generation Korean men in certain geographic areas and occupations. These mixed findings are consistent with the recent discussion of bilingualism as both human capital and ethnicity.

Ethnic Insularity among 1.5- and Second-Generation Korean-American Christians

Abstract: Building on insights from Min’s (2010) comparisons between Korean Protestants and Indian Hindus, and my findings of elite freshmen Korean racial insularity (Park 2012), I use data from the Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles (2004) survey to examine the extent to which religion serves to not only preserve ethnicity but also support insularity in young adult 1.5- and second-generation (“second generation” hereafter) Korean Americans. Findings suggest that at the racial level of comparison, second-generation Korean-American endogamy resembles that of white, black, and Latino endogamy; second-generation Korean-American endogamy reflects not only the highest intraracial marriage rate, but also the highest intraethnic marriage rate of all Asian groups in the sample. Further, religious married second-generation Korean Americans have the highest racially homogeneous composition rate in the congregations they attend relative to other racial groups and other Asian ethnicities. In multivariate analyses, these two dynamics of marital endogamy and congregational racial homophily produce strong effects on one another and diminish the unique Korean effect. Findings suggest that these group relational patterns are more evident for second-generation Korean Americans and may have implications for social mobility in a racialized context.

Change of Attitudes towards Social Policy in Japan in the First Decade of the Twentieth Century: Neoliberalism or Welfare State?

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to clarify the change of social consciousness concerning neoliberalism and the welfare state in Japan in the 2000s. In the first half of the decade, the influence of neoliberalism grew in the field of economic and social policy. Unlike the first half, however, the second half of the 2000s showed slightly different situations: Neoliberalism started to become less influential. This paper discusses the change of social consciousness as the background to the policy changes witnessed in the first half and second half, respectively, of the 2000s. Orientation toward "small government" (low cost) was high in the first half and remained low in the second half of the decade. In contrast, orientation toward a "welfare state" (high benefit) approach grew stronger both in the first half and the second half of the decade. Contrary to what is generally believed, the proportion of people who thought highly of initiatives by the "public sector" gained a majority also in the first half of the 2000s. People who placed importance on initiatives by the "private sector" increased in the second half of the decade. However, it is reasonable to think that the increase is not because of "privatization" but rather because of the emergence of the NPOs, NGOs, and social enterprises. However, public opinion was divided into two camps: need principle/universalism and contribution principle/selectivism.

Regional Environmental Governance and Social Capital: A Case Study of Mangyeong River Communities*

Abstract: With a growing concern over the quality of water running downward into the Saemangeum area, the public-private-academic partnership for water quality management called "Jeollabuk-do River Restoration Association" was inaugurated in 2011 at the municipal level. On account of the fact that the water quality control as common pool resource faces a social dilemma, non-point source pollution requires cooperation particularly among river community residents supported by the public-private-academic partnership. Drawing upon a survey of the residents of Wanju-gun, Iksan-si, and Gimje-si along the Mangyeong River, we find that, firstly, residents including farmers do not consider diffuse pollution from the agricultural riverbank to be serious. Secondly, the partnership's activities are not sufficiently familiar to residents. Thirdly, residents commonly tend to perceive the current form of regional environmental governance as a managerial model that is led by the local government. Fourthly, residents of Iksan-si and Gimje-si have significantly higher levels of social capital. Lastly, norms of cooperation can be explained by civic associations and regional identity, with more cooperation from Iksansi residents. Several implications of these findings are discussed.Keywords: Water Quality Control, Non-point Source Pollution, Social Dilemma, Regional Environmental Governance, Social Capital, Cooperative NormsIntroductionSince the biggest land reclamation project in the history of South Korea called Saemangeum Seawall was launched in 1989 as a national project for farmland construction, water demand estimation was the main subject of research during the 1990s. The issue of water quality was first raised in 1996, and thereafter, the central government of South Korea implemented various tasks informed by the "Water Quality Improvement Measures Phase 1" (2001-2010). Meanwhile, the government changed the fundamental design of the Saemangeum Seawall project in October 2008 to increase the share of land for non-agricultural purposes such as industry, tourism and leisure, international affairs, science, and research, with the proportion of agricultural land down to 30%. To this end, the government upwardly adjusted the overall level of water quality to grade 4 for the agricultural sector and grade 3 for the urban sector, according to the Comprehensive Development Plan passed in March 2011 by the 6th Saemangeum Committee. Highlighting the priority of the intensive maintenance of two rivers named Mangyeong and Dongjin in the upstream regions of the Saemangeum land, "Water Quality Improvement Measures Phase 2" (2011-2020) focuses mainly on how to effectively control pollution from livestock farms, point source pollution, and non-point source pollution. Pertinently, the government began to draw new attention to various diffuse sources of water pollution (e.g., by means of combined sewer overflow facilities and low impact development-based urban planning) in contrast to the earlier approach to water quality management which is disproportionately concerned about livestock wastes and point sources of pollution.The pro-growth regime in leollabuk-do, having consistently alleged that the future of leollabuk-do depends solely on the success of the Saemangeum project, took active steps in response to the idea that a regional agency is required for more collaborative governance of water quality improvement at the provincial level immediately after the central government announced the "Water Improvement Measures Phase 2." The leollabuk-do governor took the initiative in arranging the leollabuk-do River Restoration Association in March 2011, which is an enlarged version of the Public-Private-Academic Partnership for Eco-Friendly Mangyeong River (2002-2011). This new association presumes itself as the first case of a municipal-level public-private-academic partnership regarding river restoration since the launch of Koreas local self-governing system. …

Learning from an Environmental Pollution Event and Policy Change: Focused on the Saemangeum Reclamation Project in Korea

Abstract: This study, using the Event-Related Policy Change Model, analyzes the Saemangeum reclamation project in Korea, which has been the cause of significant social debate for around 10 years. In the policy process of the Saemangeum reclamation project, the severe water pollution event at Lake Shihwa acted as a focusing event which would attract civil society"s interest in the environmentally adverse effects of the project. The perception of tidal flats was changed in society, and a system of protecting and managing tidal flats rather than reclaiming them was made through the discussion process. The finding of this study is that it is to a different extent for the policy-making participants to react to a focusing event, and to learn from a preceding event. In the Saemangeum reclamation policy, environmental groups reacted to the focusing event more sensitively than other policy participants, and were motivated to engage in active discussion. As a result, they could have a decisive effect on governmental policy and civil society.

Demography as Social Risk: Demographic Change and Accumulated Inequality*

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to discuss social risks related to aging populations, focusing on family and work for eldelry people in contemporary Japan. I mainly examine economic inequality measured by mean log deviation and the poverty rate as concrete phenomenon to show social risk. The data which I analyze is the Comprehensive Survey of People’s Living Condition in 1986, 1995, and 2004, conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan. There are two major findings of this paper. First, I found that the overall economic inequality among the elderly aged 65 and over has declined mainly because of the decline in the number of those who work and the difference in economic well-being between household types. In particular, the high advantage in the economic well-being of the elderly in a three-generation household has been no longer guaranteed. Second, there was a significant gender difference in the relationship between his/her past life course and economic hardship in their later life. In sum, the location of the elderly at home and in the labor market has changed, and as a consequence, the content of social risk related to aging has been more differentiated.