South Korea's condensed transition from class politics to citizenship politics

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements The Seoul National University Asia Center (SNUAC) has kindly supported the planning and editing of this special issue. Notes 1. See Seth's (2012 Seth, M. 2012. Education zeal, state control and citizenship in South Korea. Citizenship studies, 16(1): 13–28. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) article in this special issue on South Koreans' ‘education zeal’ from a citizenship perspective and my book, South Korea under Compressed Modernity: Familial Political Economy in Transition (2010 Chang, K.-S. 2010. South Korea under compressed modernity: familial political economy in transition, London: Routledge. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Chapter 3), on South Koreans' familial educational pursuits as a manifestation of compressed modernity. According to OECD data, the average annual tuition of South Korean students was US$8519 for private universities and colleges and US$4717 for public ones. Both were the world's second highest, behind the USA only (Chosun Ilbo, http://www.chosun.com [Accessed 16 June 2011]). See Korea Higher Education Research Center (2011 Korea Higher Education Research Center. 2011. A country of mad tuitions, Seoul: Gaemagowon. [in Korean] [Google Scholar]) for a thorough critical analysis of the social, political, and financial factors behind the tuition issues. 2. See Turner and Chang (2012 Turner, B.S. and Chang, K.-S. 2012. “Whither East Asian citizenship?”. In Contested citizenship in East Asia: developmental politics, national unity, and globalization, Edited by: Chang, K.-S. and Turner, B.S. 243–255. London/New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar]) on the importance of consumer citizenship in the post-developmental context. 3. See Amnesty International's (2008 Amnesty International. 2008. Policing the candlelight protests in South Korea, London: Amnesty International. [Google Scholar]) report for a detailed account of the South Korean government's abusive practices in this regard. 4. See Chang (2012a Chang, K.-S. 2012a. “Developmental citizenship in perspective: the South Korean case and beyond”. In Contested citizenship in East Asia: developmental politics, national unity, and globalization, Edited by: Chang, K.-S. and Turner, B.S. 182–202. London/New York: Routledge. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 2012b Chang, K.-S. 2012b. “Predicaments of neoliberalism in the post-developmental liberal context”. In Developmental politics in transition: the neoliberal era and beyond, Edited by: Chang, K.-S., Fine, B. and Weiss, L. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave-Macmillan. (in print) [Google Scholar]) on the nature of state–citizen/labor relationship under developmentalist governance. 5. The Anti-UR (Anti-Rice Import) Million People's Petition Movement was launched as the South Korean government was set to sign the UR agreement in 1993. The petition was actually signed by about 13 million people, making a Guinness world record. 6. Cho (2007 Cho, M.-R. 2007. Developmentalism and democracy [in Korean]. Bipyeong, 17(winter): 131–152. [Critique] [Google Scholar]) critically assessed this tendency as singaebaljuui (neo-developmentalism). 7. See the articles by Seol (2012 Seol, D.-H. 2012. The citizenship of foreign workers in South Korea. Citizenship studies, 16(1): 119–133. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Kim (2012 Kim, N.H.-J. 2012. Multiculturalism and politics of belonging: the puzzle of multiculturalism in Korea. Citizenship studies, 16(1): 103–117. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in this special issue on the economic, social, and cultural conditions of foreign migrant workers in South Korea. 8. See the articles by Seol (2012 Seol, D.-H. 2012. The citizenship of foreign workers in South Korea. Citizenship studies, 16(1): 119–133. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Lee (2012 Lee, C. 2012. How can you say you're Korean? Law, governmentality and national membership in South Korea. Citizenship studies, 16(1): 85–102. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in this special issue on the legal and other status of ethnic Koreans who have recently arrived (back) in South Korea for various purposes. 9. See Chang (1995 Chang, K.-S. 1995. Gender and abortive capitalist social transformation: semi-proletarianization of South Korean women. International journal of comparative sociology, 36(1–2): 61–81. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) on the semi-proletarian status of South Korean women during the early-to-mid-industrialization period. 10. Relatedly, Crouch (2004 Crouch, C. 2004. Post-democracy, London: Polity Press. [Google Scholar]) indicates that the ‘post-democratic’ tendencies in advanced industrial democracies have subordinated national social, and economic interests to the rapidly growing power and interests of the transnational or global bourgeois classes in financial, industrial, and even agricultural sectors. 11. See my review of this book in Contemporary Sociology (Chang 2003 Chang, K.-S. 2003. Review of Alaine Touraine, Beyond Neoliberalism. Contemporary sociology, 32(3): 361–363. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 12. At the same time, Touraine voiced a loud critique of la pensee unique (meaning one-way thinking), which is ‘roughly equivalent to the TINA (“There Is No Alternative”) of the Thatcher years in Britain’ ([1998 Touraine, A. [1998] 2001. Beyond neoliberalism, Cambridge: Polity Press. [Google Scholar]] 2001, p. 118). He rebuked a sort of defeatist globalism as French tend to think, ‘given that we live in a globalized society consisting of transformations and technologies, of new transnational units of production and financial networks, and given that new industrial countries where wages are often very low are entering it too, it is absurd to speak of political choice’ ([1998 Touraine, A. [1998] 2001. Beyond neoliberalism, Cambridge: Polity Press. [Google Scholar]] 2001, p. 12). To him, globalization – more precisely, global financial capitalism – is not an unprecedented form of capitalism, and thus its adverse consequences may well be overcome by the conscious and concerted efforts of national society and polity. 13. I suggested this concept to Yoon (2012 Yoon, I.-J. 2012. “Circumstantial citizens: North Korean ‘migrants’ in South Korea”. In Contested citizenship in East Asia: developmental politics, national unity, and globalization, Edited by: Chang, K.-S. and Turner, B.S. 218–239. London/New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar]) for his analysis of the fluctuating status of North Korean refugees in South Korea. 14. See Choi (2002 Choi, J.-J. 2002. Democracy after democratization: crisis and conservative origin of Korea's democracy, Seoul: Humanitas. [in Korean] [Google Scholar]) for a thorough and persuasive account of this situation. 15. I propose the concept of undercitizen to depict the stratified nature of colonials' citizenship. This concept may also be used in describing the status of various categories of migrant persons nowadays. 16. In an interesting development, Park Geun-Hye, a daughter of Park Chung-Hee and a most favored candidate for next national presidency, declared on 20 December 2010 that she would pursue a proactive, preventive, and sustained welfare state system with South Korean characteristics (Yonhapnews, http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr [Accessed 20 December 2010]). This triggered wide political and social repercussions, setting a serious stage for politics of the welfare state. Major opposition candidates for next presidency had to immediately follow the suit, and many media began to carry major special series on welfare issues.