
Measured Excess
Status, Gender, and Consumer Nationalism in South Korea
Laura C. Nelson(Author)
Columbia University Press
Will be published approx. on 6. December 2000
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-231-11617-6 (ISBN)
Description
This insightful analysis of the ways in which South Korean economic development strategies have reshaped the country's national identity gives specific attention to the manner in which women, as the primary agents of consumption, have been affected by this transformation. Past scholarship on the culture of nationalism has largely focused on the ways in which institutions utilize memory and "history" to construct national identity. In a provocative departure, Laura C. Nelson challenges these assumptions with regard to South Korea, arguing that its identity has been as much tied to notions of the future as rooted in a recollection of the past. Following a backlash against consumerism in the late 1980s, the government spearheaded a program of frugality that eschewed imported goods and foreign travel in order to strengthen South Korea's national identity. Consumption-with its focus on immediate gratification-threatened the state's future-oriented discourse of national unity. In response to this perceived danger, Nelson asserts, the government cast women as the group whose "excessive desires" for material goods were endangering the nation.
Reviews / Votes
Provides an insightful analysis of the ambivalent attitude of the residents of Seoul to South Korea's growing material prosperity through the decades of the 1980s and 1990s. Journal of Asian Studies Nelson's eloquent writing style allows the rare pleasure of readfing social science research that comes through factually as well as emotionally... highly recommended. Gender & Society An insightful analysis of the ways in which South Korean economic development strategies have reshaped the country's national identity. -- Mikyeong Bae Acta KoreanaMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
5 maps, 7 graphs
Weight
368 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-231-11617-6 (9780231116176)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
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E-Book
07/2012
1st Edition
Columbia University Press
€22.49
Available for download

E-Book
12/2000
1st Edition
Columbia University Press
from
€48.29
Available for download
Book
11/2000
Columbia University Press
€76.75
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Person
Laura C. Nelson is an associate at MDRC, a nonprofit research organization, where she currently focuses on poverty, employment, and social policy in the United States.
Content
Preface: Notes on Methods and Writing 1: Consumer Nationalism First Vignette: 1992 2: "Seoul to The World, The World to Seoul" Second Vignette: 1985 3: Producing New Consumption Third Vignette: 1991 4: "Kwasobi Ch'ubang": Measuring Excess Fourth Vignette: 1993 5: Endangering the Nation, Consuming the Future Fifth Vignette: 1991 6: Coda Appendix