Burdens, Resilience, and Mutual Support: A Comparative Study of Families in China and South Korea Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

As the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic disrupts established daily routines, it underlines the role that families play in redefining social order and reorganizing people’s economic and social lives. In this paper, we investigate methods that Chinese and South Korean families have adopted to cope with the rapid changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. We emphasize families’ responses to sudden changes in three domains: education and home schooling, economic downturn and unemployment, and mental health challenges. By integrating online education and remote working into a new form of family life and sharing economic and emotional risks among members, families shape social order during a period of unprecedented uncertainty. We highlight the fact that family members experience intensified work-family or school-family conflicts. Disadvantaged families are the most severely affected, as they are at high risk of job loss and lack proper protections. The absence of institutional protections and interventions has created further economic and emotional hardships for these vulnerable families. Informal and nonregular workers require more stable labor market conditions for the well-being of their families. Future research may include a systematic data collection and analysis of disadvantaged families, as this would offer a better understanding of the challenges and untenable choices that families face during times of crisis.