Privilege and Anxiety: the Korean Middle Class in the Era of Globalization (New Horizons in Social Research Series) [Group Studies]

In "Privilege and Anxiety," Koo Hae-geun examines the changes in the Korean middle class in the era of neoliberal globalization, and points out that the impact of global economic changes on this class is far from a simple economic recession and reduction in class size. Globalization has led to polarization within the middle class, dividing a small number of groups who benefit from a globalized economy from a larger group that suffers from its negative impacts. This internal division has injected new and complex dynamics into Korean society, as newly affluent groups seek to distinguish themselves from the rest of the middle class and establish new privileged class status. Privilege and Anxiety explores how these tensions play out in three areas: consumption and lifestyle, residential segregation, and educational practice. In all three areas, the dominant orientation of the affluent middle class is to retain their newfound privileges and pass them on to their children. Koo Haegen believes that their new class practice causes both winners and losers under neoliberal globalization to suffer tremendous anxiety.