2020 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 171-208
This study examines the consumption practices of the affluent middle-aged in contemporary South Korea who were once identified as the "new generation." In the 1990s, a discourse about the young generation, who were the earliest beneficiaries of economic growth in the modern history of South Korea, arose, and these people were identified as an emerging symbol of modern consumerism. This study focuses on the upper-middle class of this demographic section and investigates the cultural dynamism that practically governs contemporary consumption patterns. The growing significance of neo-liberalism in consumption attitudes is discussed in terms of not only self-management but also seeking a new social appropriateness in traditional collectivism. The framework of interpersonal perceptions of uri – nam is applied to elaborate on the interplay of global capitalism and a deeply rooted familyism, exhibiting the South Korean cultural sentiment as one that balances individualism and traditional virtue.
