User:SHIN MIN KYEONG/sandbox

As the popluation of immigrants has gradually increased since 2000, a view on multiculturalism in Korean society is being actively carried out. Korea is a society dominated by very strong single-ethnic ideology and pedigreeism. But multiculturalism, which has to accept a wide range of different values, is causing ideological, policy and cultural confusion in Korea in many fields.

A study of Korean Nationalism

A study on the Origin and Development of Korean Single Nationalism

A description of this national emergence from the perspective of Europe is divided into three ways. (Schneider, 1978)

The first type is the concept of a civil nation formed by the bourgeois class winning political power through the civil revolution on the basis of economic power in the form of a national state that emerged by the development of social productive forces, such as United Kingdom and France.

The second type is the case of Germany, a nation formed by appealing for the unity of social members against the ideological and mystical national spirit of the ruling class to overcome the situation of division in the absence of a national state because the bourgeoisie was weak.

The third type is the Slavic type of southeastern Europe, which has emerged as a counter-intuitive ideology against the domination and suppression of immigrants. Korean society is one of the third types.

For a description of a South Korean nationalist origins is more complicated.

The first is the bloodline-centered interpretation of the Korean people, which defines them as the product of nature with the same bloodline and destiny. Regardless of whether the existence of a pure-blooded nation is possible in reality, this belief is based on a single lineage and has lasted for thousands of years. It is also emotionally connected to the attention of a single culture and currently appears in Korean society.

The second is to view Korea’s single nationalism as the product of modern ideology formed at the end of the Joseon Dynasty. Conceptually, there is an explain that the Korean people were originated in the early 20th century when Korea was integrated into a modern world system and followed by the emergence of ethnic history. In other words, it is the history of the Korean people that emerged as a replacement for the previously existing history of dynasty, which in turn created the concept of the Korean people, which is the origin of Korea's monolithic nationalism.

The third points to Korea's unique experience, stressing that Korea has long been stable in territorial division, and that there has been a sociocultural foundation that will shape ethnic identity as the bureaucratic state has continued for a long time.(Duncan, 1998)

Park Kyung Tae(2008) said, about Korean nationalism, Korean ethnic group race was a ‘mythical entity’ that filed a gap during Japanese occupation. In addition, he argues that Korean nationalism has been reinforced since the Korean war to hid internal disparties caused by division, dictatorship, and rise of capitalism.

Shin (2006) viewed that the two authoritarian states in Korea called for sacrificing individual rights and promoted ethnic, blood-related nationalist ideologies to justify them. Community nationalism based on blood ties has inspired the development of "authoritarian collectivism" in South Korea, and in "socialist-free socialism" North Korea has developed a belligerent nationalism into a governing ideology, not socialism in its name but in its content. After all, single nationalism of Korea has been reinforced since Japanese occupation and liberation.

Opinions on the Character of Multiculturalism in Korea

Multiculturalism in Korea is just an early stage of beginning, with critics pointing out that it is more of a foreign management policy focusing on ethnocentrism, government-led, foreign workers' management, and marriage-oriented adjustment of women than on co-existence multiculturalism.

First, Korean multiculturalism is deeply reflected in the view of assimilation or ethnocentrism. There are moves to identify migrants as objects of teaching, engagement and sympathy and make them "true Koreans." In Korea, the term ‘multiculturalism’ appears to be ostensibly speaking of understanding, tolerance, harmony ,but in practice, it serves to reaffirm and strengthen unity or homogeneity in modern national unit societies.

Second, it is pointed out that multiculturalism in Korea is limited to ways to achieve social integration, targeting a limited category of migrant-focused women such as marriage immigrants and migrant workers. The multicultural discourse being produced by the Korean academic community is focused on a narrow range, such as the adaptation of migrants, without serious consideration of various and empirical philosophies, theories and concepts in a multicultural society.

Third, there are views that define multiculturalism in Korea as government-led multiculturalism and identify it as a new form of foreign management policy. The rationale for this claim is that the government-led multicultural policy has the nature of pure blood and patriarchal assimilation policies, and by limiting policy subjects to marriage-immigrant women and foreign workers, they are only interested in integrating into Koreans or gaining labor. It also points out that the goals and directions of multiculturalism policies are one-sidedly determined by the government.

Fourth, Korean society has not given up on the character of single culture. This means that foreigners and migrants living in Korea are more likely to integrate into unity than diversity. The preference for collectivism among Korean, the tendency to strictly distinguish inner and outer groups, discrimination by stereotypes, and the tendency to negatively evaluate minorities show the character of monoculturalism.(Choi In-Chul, 2008)

Fifth, there is criticism that Korea's multiculturalism is focused more on prescription-oriented policies than on discourse, cause analysis and exploring the historical peculiarities of Korean society. It is true that many multicultural studies in Korea have paid more attention to short-term prescriptions such as how how to incorporate minorities and migrants into Korean than identifying the cause of single nationalism.

Korean society does not have such a high proportion of migrants, and the resulting social conflict does not appear on the surface yet. But if deeper discussions on what kind of multicultural society to create and the analysis of the special nature of Korean society are not done closely, there would be a risk of serious conflict and huge social costs as the population of inflow increases and multicultural society changes into more complex forms.

Schneider, 1978/ San Ho-sang, 1992/Duncan, 1998/Park Kyung Tae(2008) / Shin (2006) /Cho in Chul(2008)