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By David A. Tizzard
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Some countries evolve unconsciously. They move towards modernity without necessarily thinking too deeply about it. They do not state a specific destination. And the influences and driving factors of modernization are internal (for the most part) rather than external, arising from indigenous practices, beliefs, and local cultures. However, unconsciously growing into modernity is a fundamentally different epistemological journey to being forced to know modernity.
The latter is largely what has transpired in Korea. Here, the task of achieving modernity has been a conscious decision. Moreover, the goals have often been a form of modernization that had already been achieved by other (western) countries. Sometimes there was a coercive nature to this. Korea's asymmetrical economic and geo-political relations with other states often decided which goals would be worked towards. For example, did Korea choose democratic capitalism in 1948 or was it simply a necessity having been granted independence from the U.S. military government after its dropping of atomic bombs on Japanese civilians? Did Korea want neo-liberalism in the late 1990s, or was this adoption a necessity imposed by the IMF? In a sense, therefore, Korea hasn't been so much evolving naturally, but instead looking at models and standards set elsewhere, and then proving to itself (and the world) that it too can achieve such levels.
How many other post-colonial nations have achieved what Korea has? Despite the ravages of war, colonialism, and imperialism, Korea has dazzled the global community and its own people by carrying out a series of dramatic transformations of its society. Those transformations have been explicitly held goals, stated and worked towards by presidents and people alike. Slogans, policies, and campaigns focused the population and national resources on remaking the socio-political landscape. This has seen political democratization, technological modernization, economic development, and sociocultural globalization dragging the country from its isolationist agricultural past to its current proud and free conditions.
Some might look upon the country today and decry (not without justification) the lack of women's rights, troubling attitudes towards multiculturalism, and indifference to the gay community. However, Korea's focus on specific transformations during its modernization has meant that a whole host of other issues have had to take a backseat. For example, when the country sought economic development, democracy, human rights, and protections were all relegated to a secondary position. As a result, many suffered so that a collective goal might be achieved. Then, with the subsequent creation of a middle class, the goal became democracy. A new national focus was established. The democratization of Korea, made all the more beautiful by its un-inevitability, was achieved thanks to important contributions from a variety of different groups, including students, journalists, Christians, women, and laborers. However, each group often had to sacrifice the advancement of its own causes in order to bring about the transformation.
Professor Chang Kyung-sup describes the above as 'compressed modernity'. These specific historic and cultural influences have created today's society, with all of its contradictions, puzzlements, and extreme tendencies. Korea today tops global charts in terms of education, literacy, and digital connectivity but also adopts the same place, rather tragically, in terms of suicide rates and fertility. To compare it socio-culturally to other states which have experienced modernity in an altogether fundamentally different manner ignores the history and transformations taking place. In short: it's the epistemology, stupid.
Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast, which can be found online. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.
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