[김재준의 다빈치스쿨] The sensitivity that sprouted from art education at a young age transformed into sharp surveillance and resistance energy.
A long time ago, I spent a research year at Stanford University, in the center of Silicon Valley in the U.S., and I audited more sociology courses than economics courses. This is because a lecture on economic sociology by Professor Mark Granovetter of Stanford University that I overheard gave me a refreshing shock to someone who was steeped in economics and changed my way of looking at the world. At that time, “Economics is like a chef showing off flashy skills over banal rotten meat. “Sociology may be somewhat lacking in technology, but it tells really important stories using fresh materials,” I sympathized with even though I was repelled by the statement. Afterwards, I studied sociology diligently, and thanks to this, I was able to publish more than seven sociological papers in specialized academic journals. It was a very enjoyable experience to seek answers to questions such as why there are many high-tech companies in places with many Starbucks and how Japanese Americans living in California name their names.
Transformation of marriage capital
This time, I would like to talk about Korean society seen through the eyes of a sociologist. In Korean society, surprisingly, the people who fill concert halls and speak powerfully at political rallies are women in their 20s and 30s. This is in contrast to foreign countries where there are many older middle-class people at concert halls. This is no coincidence. This is because the keywords of early art education and cultural capital are hidden behind the emergence of women as cultural and political subjects in Korean society.
In the past in Korean society, arts education was particularly focused on girls. Many girls learned piano and ballet and attended art schools. Art education became a source of pride for parents as they “raised their daughter well” and was considered a symbol of a “cultured woman” when getting married. Cultural knowledge served as part of ‘marriage capital’ for the future. To borrow sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of ‘cultural capital’, art education was an asset that went beyond a simple hobby and symbolized a specific class and culture. Related discussions are well summarized in a paper by Choi Saet-byeol, a professor of sociology at Ewha Womans University.
As times changed, art education began to work in unexpected ways. Women are beginning to use their cultural assets beyond just offering them to the marriage market. Nowadays, the importance of marriage to women is not what it used to be. Cultural capital has become the foundation for women to enrich themselves and grow as independent subjects. Women who learned art and acquired cultural sensibilities at a young age naturally headed to cultural spaces such as performance halls. Most audiences for musicals, classical performances, K-pop concerts, and art exhibitions are women in their 20s and 30s. They consumed culture and at the same time became the subjects of creating cultural flows. The culture and culture that had been working to make women passive beings has actually transformed them into active and sensuous beings. The women who filled cultural spaces enjoyed culture, created new trends, and became the central axis of the Korean cultural industry. Today they are showing the power of the audience.
From simple consumer to independent participant
What’s interesting is that women’s energy does not end with cultural consumption. Women who had accumulated cultural capital began to speak out in the square. The delicate sensitivity developed through cultural experiences and art education transformed into energy for sharp surveillance and resistance on political and social issues. Women in their 20s and 30s stood out at candlelight vigils for Park Geun-hye’s impeachment, women’s rights movements, and gender issue rallies. Even in the recent martial law and impeachment situation, young women have been at the forefront of political and social change. Sharing information through social networking services (SNS), sharing goods and snacks, and singing Girls’ Generation songs while waving light sticks show that K-pop fandom has emerged as the center of rallies.
Foreign media is also paying attention to this phenomenon. According to BBC Korea, the participation of women in their 20s was noticeable in the so-called Yeouido impeachment rally (see table). Women are not just ‘simple consumers’, but have become ‘subjects’ who change society. New political consumers have picky tastes and show strong resistance to unsophisticated politics based on regionalism. Furthermore, sociologists would argue that politics can also be interpreted as new entertainment.
To put it in the language of sociologists, the cultural sophistication given to women in the name of marriage capital paradoxically made them independent and autonomous beings. Young women enjoying culture at concert halls and calling for change in plazas symbolize a new movement in Korean society. They are no longer living by other people’s standards. Korea’s birth rate being the lowest in the world can also be seen as a rational choice for women. Government policy may be problematic from the start. Young women are not moved by a few subsidies.
The cultural capital accumulated by women can enrich individual lives and further serve as energy to move Korean society in a better direction. A new entity in Korean society is already in motion, not only in concert halls but also in plazas. This trend is not simply a trend of the times, but an important turning point that leads to social change.
| Professor Jaejun Kim… |
| He graduated from Seoul National University’s Department of Economics and received a doctorate in economics from Princeton University in the United States. He served as Dean of the College of Economics and Economics at Kookmin University, Director of the Library and Museum at Kookmin University, and President of the Korean Society of Arts Management, and is currently serving as a professor in the Department of International Trade at Kookmin University. |
〈This article Weekly Donga No. 1470It was published in.〉
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