Abstract

As of 2010, apartment occupies more than half of all houses in Korea. It took just half a century since 1960 when apartment was introduced to ordinary people for the first time. The apartment has spread over the nation very swiftly since then. This phenomena needs more inclusive explanations than the investigations into the government's policies or economical situations. Without satisfaction and consensus of people, the universal spread of apartment might be fairly unrealizable. In this vein, the research and analysis has been performed in order to grasp the picture of everyday life's discourse based on the related articles from five major newspapers and five women's magazines during 1960~1989. From the articles' discourses we tried to understand how modern apartment has been accepted and evaluated through people's living life in it. First, the discourse of living life was generated mostly by housewives through the comparison between apartment and traditional house. Second, the most influential aspect of apartment's popularization was the convenience of efficient housekeeping system by modern equipment and home appliance installed in apartment. This efficiency could allow housewives to perform various urban activities such as work, shopping, and simple going out. Third, the satisfaction from efficiency and privacy brought about a sense of alienation at the same time. As a result, the rapid proliferation of apartment in Korea could be attained not only by the institutional driving forces but through the fulfillments of Korean people's housing needs from modern everyday life.

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