“This literature examines the articulation of personal formation with, for example, the felixbilization of labor, the demise of job security, and the retrenchment of both state and corporate support for social welfare. For South Korea, these personal features distinguish this generation from earlier generations of college students. Today’s college students are committed to becoming vital—people who lead active and enjoyable lives, people who ‘live hard and play hard’ and who aim to ‘experience’ the world to its fullest.” 

-Nancy Abelmann 

As Korea transformed into a global capitalist powerhouse—and adjusted to systematic hurdles in capitalism through events such as the 1997 financial crisis and IMF sanctions—the motives and priorities of Korea’s younger generation were restructured.  Whereas in the past paternal or familial pressure influenced the younger generation, in post-modern Korea self-realization and growth as an individual became the dominant catalyst. Students of all ages, without exception to surrounding circumstances, were pressured to build a global, social capital brand, so as to position one’s self advantageously at an international stage (Abelmann). 

The phenomenon is demonstrated by Heejin, a determined university student whom took it upon her herself to study hard, obtain a good score on the college entrance exam, and attend a top university. Upon finally attending the school she worked relentlessly to get into, she admitted that the students at the school deserved to be there; they were harder workers, self-managing, and invested in personal development. In addition, she insisted that in the current globalized environment, South Korean could not afford to be concerned about socioeconomic inequality, and that students need to be pushed to study more. 

What Heejin fails to account for, however, is the structural obstacles that different individuals experience. While Heejin was fortunate enough to attend a private after-school education, not all students enjoy the same luxury. Surprisingly, students that did not attend a college of comparable reputation also shared Heejin’s viewpoints. Sori, whom attended a ‘third-tier’ college, attributed her failure to her own shortcomings, rather than any external forces that may have influenced her upbringing. As it turns out, Sori’s burden of self-development was stitched into the fabric of conservative family norms and patriarchy. Despite her aspirations to take on her father’s export/import business, she was denied on the basis of her gender Still, Sori considered herself responsible for lacking a college brand and embraced her upward struggle for human capital (Abelmann). 

The story of Heejin and Sori demonstrates the inherent assumption of responsibility at the individual level. Told to believe that self-actualization was the only way ‘up’ in an increasingly globalized environment, both girls were to a certain extent blind to the structural and positional difference that came with their upbringing or circumstance. Rather than pointing to a college entrance process that is systematically unfair for some people, or the after-school cram schools that benefit only the students that can afford to attend, the girls accepted their perceived ‘success’ and ‘failure’ as a result of their own ability, or lack thereof. 

Sources:

Nancy Abelmann, Hyunhee Kim, and So Jin Park. “College Rank and Neoliberal Subjectivity in South Korea: The Burden of Self-Development.”