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The impact of post-materialism on Korean students' activism
Abstract
Stability of Korean society has been undermined by students' activism since the end of the First Republic (1948-1960). It has been argued that recurrent student activism has changed qualitatively and has notably increased both in frequency and severity since the early 1980s when a national economy reached the threshold of mature industrialization. Employing Inglehart's theory of post-materialism, this study examines the impact of post-materialism on student attitudes and activism. This study is based on survey data collected from 1005 students from the five major universities in Seoul in September, 1990. This study finds that these Korean university students have quite a high level of post-materialism, comparable to levels found in a 1971 sample of European young adults. Most Korean university students have change-oriented, leftist attitudes, and are sympathetic to protest. Most support group activism and radicalism. Compared to other students, post-materialist students are more likely to be involved in political protest, have higher levels of political efficacy, have more negative views of politics and the existing system, and prefer more radical social change. The study finds that post-materialism among Korean university students plays the second most important role in explaining favorable attitudes toward protest as well as direct involvement in protest activities. The findings also confirm conventional beliefs that student groups are highly politicized and thus that left-right political ideology still prevails among Korean university students.
Subject Area
Political science|Educational sociology
Recommended Citation
Kim, Kidae, "The impact of post-materialism on Korean students' activism" (1991). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9133295.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9133295