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Article published In: InContext
Vol. 2:1 (2022) ► pp.109–140

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A dance between structure and agency

Cultural change on the Korean Peninsula

 | Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

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Published online: 28 April 2022
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https://doi.org/10.54754/incontext.v2i1.15
Abstract
For comparative case studies, North and South Korea provide political and social theorists with the perfect laboratory to control for factors like language, culture and history due to their near identical conditions in terms of these factors at independence. This research examines and discusses the impact of the social structures and constraints on individual agency that resulted in the aftermath of the nearly 80-year-old division of the Korean peninsula on the cultures of the Koreas. First, section two examines theoretical perspectives on the relationship between structure, culture, and agency to frame our discussion and then focuses on theory of cultural change that most pertains to the North and South Korea we see today following nearly 80 years of nation building. Then, section three examines some indicators of state structures such as coercive capacity, national economy, and political freedom to show the structural disparity between North and South Korea. Institutions are the real world embodiments of structure and these statistics are reflections of the capacity of their relevant institutions to constrain and influence agency. Section four highlights some ways that the numbers from section three have influenced agency in both Koreas over time. Then, section five examines how structure and agency influenced changes in culture in South Korea and North Korea. Section six concludes by offering some thoughts on the implications of the findings.
This article contributes to the literature in two respects. First, it engages in a nuanced discussion of agency and structure not by simple dichotomy but by showing the mutual interplay between the two on the Korean peninsula. Second, in terms of structure and agency, it compares North and South Korea according to several indices while providing a comprehensive and deep interpretation of the two Koreas’ social and cultural evolution to non-Korean readers.
논문초록
해방 당시에 언어, 문화, 역사 등의 측면에 있어서 거의 동일한 상황에 처해 있었던 남한과 북한은 비교 사례 연구 분야의 정치·사회 이론가들에게 이런 요인들을 변수로 삼는 완벽한 실험실을 제공한다. 본 연구는 약 80년에 걸친 한반도 분단의 여 파로 형성된 사회구조 및 개별 행위자(agency)에 대한 제약들이 남북한의 문화에 미친 영향을 관찰하고 논의하고자 한다. 2장에서는 논거의 틀을 마련하기 위해 구조, 문화, 행위자 간의 관계에 대한 이론적 측면을 검토한 후, 건국 이후 거의 80년에 걸쳐 생성 된 현재 남북한의 모습을 문화 변화 이론을 중심으로 분석한다. 3장에서는 남북한의 구조적 격차를 강제력, 국민경제, 정치적 자유와 같은 국가구조의 몇 가지 지표를 중심 으로 설명하는데, 이때 기관은 구조의 실제 구현이며, 통계수치는 행위자를 제약하고 영향을 주는 관련 기관들의 역량을 반영한다. 4장에서는 3장의 수치들이 시간의 흐름 에 따라 남북한의 행위자에게 영향을 끼친 방식을 조명한다. 5장에서 구조와 행위자가 남북한의 문화 변화에 어떤 영향을 미쳤는지 살펴본 다음, 6장에서는 연구 결과의 의 미에 대한 몇 가지 의견을 제시하면서 결론을 맺는다.
기존 연구에 대한 본 연구의 기여는 두 가지 측면에서 평가할 수 있다. 첫째, 단순한 이분법 대신 한반도에서의 남북한의 상호작용을 보여줌으로써 주체와 구조 문제를 다 룬다. 둘째, 구조와 주체 면에서 여러 지표에 따라 남북한을 비교하고, 외국인 독자들 에게 남북한의 사회·문화 발전에 대한 포괄적이고 심도 있는 해석을 제공한다.
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