The Construction and Adoption of Beauty Standard by Youth Female as the Consumer of K-Beauty Products in Indonesia

Abstract

Every culture has its own definition of beauty. Culture is concerned with the process of how knowledge shapes individuals in constructing and interpreting their world. The two lines of thought in this thesis are the concept of culture and the amount of consumption of beauty products in Indonesia which focuses on the shift of local beauty products to Korean beauty products by Indonesian women of generation Z. The theory of social reality construction is used to analyze Generation Z female consumers regarding K-beauty products which depict their beauty standards. This research uses constructivism paradigm and social reality construction theory as a way to analyze this topic. This is because this study analyzes the construction of the concept of beauty standards for young Indonesian women who are consumers of Korean beauty products, and analyzes how they adopt and perceive the concept of beauty standards. One-on-one interviews were conducted with selected informants. There are three main informants and 2 supporting informants. The results show that social media, TV, movies, advertisements, communities, and key opinion leaders have contributed to setting beauty standards. The Korean wave has played a significant role in shifting the existing beauty standards. The influx of new beauty products and the portrayal of the ideal skin type gave rise to a new agreement on beauty standards by certain communities.