대학 안에서 정치적 양극화 현상을 경험하는 대학생의 인식에 대한 질적 사례연구: 미국의 A 대학을 중심으로

Abstract

This qualitative case study aimed to find how political polarization affects students at colleges and universities and to explore the meaning of these effects. For the purpose of this study, one university which is strongly influenced by political polarization in a large city in the U.S. was selected to collect data. Data were collected from the analysis of semi-structured and in-depth interviews with 12 students from various races, genders, and majors in order to obtain a rich and detailed description. The outcomes of the analysis were presented that students perceived and experienced arising the negative impact such as hate speech, hate crime, and cyberbullying on campus by political polarization based on the lack of mutual respect for different races, cultures, and ideologies. Along with the findings, this study discussed the characteristics of negative effects caused by political polarization in the campus community as an educational institution. This study could provide several implications regarding the negative and side effects of political polarization on colleges and universities in South Korea since political polarization, the same as the U.S., increasingly affects all parts of South Korea's society.