Social class is determined by your education, wealth, and career. Other factors that affect that are your family background, marital status, etc. Having a poor family background (having parents or family members who are not "respectable" through divorce, criminality, etc.) or being divorced can negatively affect your status in society, but that doesn't mean that you are dropped from upper to lower class just because of those things. I know of children of divorce who have married, but some conservative families would not accept them as spouses for their children. Education, wealth, and career are the critical factors. Actually, it has become much less of a stigma to be divorced in society as there are plenty of successful individuals in Korea who are divorced. But in the past, there was a great stigma as you were not considered respectable if you went through a divorce. Thus, divorced people were often passed over for high-level promotions because they would present a negative image for the company. But society has changed and now there are at least a few people in high-profile public positions who are divorced.
Beauty can be an advantage in society, but as far as affecting your social class, I don't think so because if you are beautiful, but not educated, wealthy, or have a respected career, your social status will still be very low. It is better to be less attractive and have all of those markers than to be beautiful and have none. I have never seen a case where those things were overlooked just because someone was beautiful, particularly in the case of marriage. And if parents approved such a match, they would be considered very liberal in the eyes of most Koreans.
VERY interesting question! Most is related to your parents' status - especially education in this most Confucian country. If you graduated from one of the SKY unis (Seoul National, Korea, or Yonsei), you are the top of the social ladder. Many years ago, I asked a young woman at a bus stop if I was waiting at the correct bus stop. Her reply started with (and I am not making this up) 'I'm a graduate of Soul National University..."!
But nearly ANY uni degree is now 'essential' in this status-conscious nation - leading to an oversupply of uni grads, so your manicurist could well have graduated f
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1 Who your parents are (and by extension, what they do)
2 Which university you graduated from
- Ivy League first
- SKY -Seoul National, Korea, Yonsei- second
3 Where you work now
- Samsung
- LG
- Hyundai
- Lotte
I made this list from personal observations, others may disagree.
Generally, if your parents are rich & powerful, people will give you extra favor in the hopes that they will get something in return from your parents (or you, when you gain influence)
Where you attend school is usually asked when people first meet you, so they can place you in that social tier. If a Korean went to Harvard and another we
The answers here cover everything except one thing - how you look.
Korea is a country wherein some jobs expect you to attach a picture to your CV.
One of my friends here in seoul once asked someone why she allowed her daughter here to have plastic surgery (and by the way - 20%+ of Korean women have had plastic surgery, and rising.)
Her response was (paraphrasing): "this is a country where being ugly gets you nowhere. I want my daughter to have opportunities"
Of course this isn't entirely true for everyone and every job, and times are changing, but it's a very real issue.
Note about my answer: altho
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In South Korea , yes , indeed the university status matters a lot. A lot of people in Korea, put a lot of effort for their child or children to attend a top universities in South Korea. The three top universities are Seoul, Yonsei, and Korea. Going to these top three schools ( called as SKY) would mean a lot for Koreans. From attending one of this school means is a family pride. Going to good university meant a good social status, yet it seems that is changing in korean soceity. The companies or working companies are now looking for employees who can bring up new ideas and creaticity. Also, de
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The young people
The young people can live by any means. They are physically fit, so they are able to work.
The disabled manage to live on state subsidies. Disabled people can even get extra points when they want to get a job.(It is not easy for them to get a job, though.)
So mainly poor old people are a big problem. They live in the slums of the city and live as frugal as possible. They make money by recycling scraps or bottles.
Or they participate in a simple labor program organized by the government.
Old people who do not fall under all these circumstances die alone. Because poor old people usua
… (more)The work problem. The education problem. The elderlies problem.
Let's start off with the educational problem. Kids are forced to study. Education is too important in Korea, and the KSAT is one of the tests that will define your life. High school students study like heck. But they can't achieve all that by themselves, right? So the parents of the kids send them off to afterschool cram schools. Cram school, meaning you cram information into their heads. The cram schools do everything to make the students study. One cram school doesn't even give kids time to eat. They run for like 5 hours, with no
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I worked in South Korea for one year, and these are my feelings
- Be prepared to live in matchbox-sized apartments, unless you are living in the countryside or suburbs. Homes in S.Korea are very small and cramped.
- People are generally warm and friendly, the only issue is not many know English. But even then they try their best to interact.
- Somehow the feeling that Koreans are xenophobic and racist is a bit too harsh, they take their own time to open up. Their reluctance to interact with outsiders is due to their own inhibitions, of not knowing English.
- One of the safest places in the world, I would go home at 4 AM on the weekend, and nothing happened. It was quite common to see females walking back all alone to their homes at midnight, something unthinkable back home in India.
- Generally law-abiding populace. I once forgot my wallet with important cards in it at the ATM, I rushed back, and it was there untouched.
- You get to see all the 4 seasons -- summer, spring, fall and winter in their full glory.
- One of the most beautiful countrysides ever, with its lush green rice fields, hills, mountains, forests.
- Koreans are nature lovers, on any given Saturday you can see hordes of them trekking, walking up hills, they love the outdoors.
- Hard core gaming addicts too, almost every PC Bang (Cyber Cafe), has these video games. I've seen people playing them for hours together, big time betting too.
- 9-5 work is something alien here, and for them working at 12 hours a stretch is normal. But I must add, while they work hard, they do know how to party hard too, so it's not that they are a case of "All work and no play".
- Sports-loving people, almost every Korean is into some kind of sports or other, though soccer, baseball, table tennis and badminton are the most popular I would say.
- Fabulous public transport system, during my entire stay in Seoul, at no stage did I miss having a car, thanks to its metro system, where I could travel from one end of the city to another, without having to spend much.
- One of the fastest internet connectivity, and the best too. Even in utterly remote areas, you get connected.
The language factor is a bit of an inhibition, but still enjoyed my stay in South Korea. I would advise you to join some Toastmaster kind of chapter there, it helps you to meet more people and make good friends.
South Koreans continue to move to not only the US, but also they keep moving to other countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc…
Although you mentioned South Korea is so much better than the US, there are some disadvantages that are worse than the US, and here are some issues I can think of:
- Working Hours: It is killing time. Most Korean companies working 9am to 9 or 10pm. Also, so many companies still works officially on Saturday. Of course, these companies don’t pay for overtime and working on holidays. The government does nothing about this issue. If you are working in company day and night and working on holidays, you also want to move to the US or other countries where work conditions are better.
- Education System for Junior High and High School: It is brutal. If you have children who are junior high or high school students, you have to spend tons of money on private education such as private tutor, Hagwon(Cram School), etc… The Korean education system is literally meant for competition. They grade each students ranking on their grade card, and publish it in public to humiliate the students who perform poor performance on tests.
- Unemployment: It is very complicated issue, but unemployment rate is keep increasing. I don’t think I can explain this issue in my answer, but young generation tries to find their job by moving to other countries such as the US and Japan nowadays.
- Soaring Real Estate: The housing price in major cities, especially Seoul, in South Korea are too expensive. You end up paying the mortgage of your house until you die.
- Corruptions: Corruptions in South Korea is much severe than the US. Current government is OK, but many organizations, universities, schools, local governments in Korea are corrupted. Funny thing is these corrupted Koreans don’t call it corruptions. They call it “a customary or traditional practice(관행)” . They justify their corruption by calling it “a customary or traditional practice(관행)”
- Jaebul: Korean Airline, Samsung, Hyunday, SK Group, and so on are called Jaebul in Korea. The owners of these major Korean companies called Jaebul, and they are a kind of king and queen in Korea. Somewhat they are more powerful than the president of South Korea because they have no limited period of ownership on their companies. The most serious problem caused by Jaebul is Monopoly in the Korean economy. They are basically backed by the Korean government, and selling their products without much competitions. They do the lobby to government officials to prevent their foreign competitors to enter the Korean market by charging higher tax on the imported goods. They effect so many negatives on the Korean society.
- Nature and Environment: Pollution is getting worse in South Korea. South Koreans who prefer clean air, less crowded living area and better nature are willing to move to other countries where have good nature and environment.
- Lack of the Social Justice: Sometimes, shit happens in South Korea. Reckitt Benckiser Group sold tons of toxic chemicals in the form of humidifier cleaner, BMW kept selling cars keep burning, Samsung keeps refusing to pay compensations for their dead employees who worked and were killed by working in the Samsung’s semiconductor factory because of serious exposure of chemicals in the factory, and recently, Sewallho tragedy. I don’t want to mention any further. During our lifetime, accidents could be happened to anybody, and the role of government should protect their people and punish the criminals who harmed innocent people. But the law of South Korea is strong for weak criminals and weak for strong criminals. As far as I concern, those who caused number of deaths to innocent people are all criminals even though they are huge corporations, Jaebul, high society people whatsoever. However, they don’t get punished fairly because they are rich or they have great backgrounds. It seems everything is unfair and absurd for what happens in the Korean society. I don’t see much right social justice on those high level of criminals. Many Koreans are saying they are tired of seeing this kind of absurdity and unfairness in the Korean society and they want to leave South Korea.
Well, I guess these are the issues that make South Koreans continue to move to the US or other developed countries. Life in South Korea is not easy at all, and the country is not so much better than the US in some aspects of the issues that I mentioned above.
I’ve been to Seoul for 3 days 2 years ago, and I noticed a quite weird phenomenon, which young people wear pretty much the same clothes throughout the city.
I recall most of them wearing the following items:
A loose coat, mostly wool.
Sorts of 7/8 pants, bootcut, with trimmings, leggings, loose, slim
Sorts of sporty shoes, mostly skate shoes and jogging shoes, and only low-cut.
So for 3 days, about 80% of young people, men or women, wearing like the photo below, only much less photoshopping and modelling.
For 3 days, I only saw 1 lady wearing a pair of knee high boots, and she was probably a Chinese
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It’s a funny ? since there is a dual world in what the statement defines.
No college or even a low end college
No car or a run down bucket, or even a small cheap car
Street market clothes
Your occupation…,
but there is a large community of people in Korea who don’t judge, your words and actions can make you low class, being selfish is low class. Lacking morals and integrity is low class. Your character defines the class you are in. This group is growing in Korea. Many are changing and many parents are starting to realize that grades don’t matter as much as being a solid human being.
My husband is Korean, so we visit Korea to see his family quite often. My observations are as follows:
- They’re very serious about trash management. To deter people throwing trash arbitrarily, they even placed CCTVs on trash areas.
http://koreabizwire.com/that-cctv-will-tell-you-off-dont-throw-your-garbage-here/1676
Don’t Trash Talk South Korea’s Waste Management System
2. Cars have blue sponges on the doors, to avoid dings. Apparently the sponges come from the car manufacturers but people don’t take them off. I saw so many of these blue sponges in Korea.
Source: This Is Why Koreans Have Blue Sponge
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I serched some articles of poor people for the pictures.
They’re called “binmin (빈민, 貧民)” in Korean, which means “the poor.” They look like South Koreans in 1950–1970s.
They normally live in 판잣집 in the 판자촌.
Words about poor villages and people:
가난 (ganan [kanan]) <noun>
Poverty, poorness.
Synonyms: 어려움 (eoryeoum), 빈곤 (bingon), 빈궁 (bingung), 궁색 (gungsaek)
빈민 (binmin, 貧民, [pinmin]) <noun>
The poor, poor people.
기초생활수급자 (gicho saenghwal sugeupja, 基礎生活受給者 [kitɕʰoseŋɦʷal sugɯp̚t͈ɕa]) <noun> TECHNICAL
People on minimal or basic welfare from the government.
Synonyms: 거지 (geoji), 걸인 (georin), 걸식자 (geolsikja) — T
… (more)This is S Korea. I’m not adding the North because they are not an ally to the U.S. I like this map because I’m from California. Living in Paju, it feels a lot bigger but I can still drive to Busan under 6 hours. I drove to Virginia back in 1998 and it took 7–8 days, getting pulled over a few times as well. I love driving in S Korea because cops don’t hide out with radar guns. We just have cameras but our Navi warns us of them.
United States is about 99 times bigger than South Korea.
South Korea is approximately 99,720 sq km, while United States is approximately 9,833,517 sq km, making United Sta
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Do not live in South Korea…
- If you are picky with food
Unlike the US, there really isn’t a “can you take out/add/change…” culture in dining in South Korea. Food allergies will be noted but food pickiness is more your problem than theirs. - Being vegetarian/vegan is also difficult because even though a dish may seemingly be vegetarian/vegan-friendly, there could be animal byproducts such as beef stock.
- If you are a teetotaler
It’s said that Koreans rarely trust a person who doesn’t drink.
Drinking culture is very prevalent in South Korea. If you work in South Korea, you’re going to be invited to st
I am Korean but was born and raised in the UK for my whole life until a year ago.
When I had heard the sudden news that I was to be attending school in Korea mentally shocked me. So as a brat going through her puberty, I screamed and cried saying I wouldn't go. But now looking back, I'm actually pretty grateful that I transferred here.
Now I come from a middle to an upper-class family that earns around 100k pounds annually. And I attended a prestigious private school in England. And I have and English and Korean passport with me. So when I came to my new school, of course, people in my
Would you rather live in boring heaven, or exciting hell?
This, an oft repeated phrase within the Korean expat community, is the choice that many Koreans feel they have to make when it comes to whether they stay in their home country or look abroad for opportunity. Korea is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, and as you can see from the below map, density is essentially inescapable:
People live on top of each other in small apartments with prices that often make Manhattan prices look reasonable. Renting is expensive, and securing an apartment requires putting up a down paym
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First, it's important to recognize, rural societies and urban societies work completely differently. It probably won't be too wrong to say that only Tokyo counts as urban in this context.
Rural societies are simpler, since it has basically taken the age old historical structure and extrapolated it to the modern world.
Privileged class consists of high level government officials and local business owners. They basically own the prefecture economy and they are fairly hereditary in nature. Outside of Tokyo, there are retail chains that you never hear about outside of a certain region, and it's often very difficult for outsiders including national chains to break in. Construction employs a lot of people, and they make their livelihood from setting up lucrative construction contracts with the local government. Local bureaucrats and business owners run the show.
Then, there is a class of people, smaller business owners, doctors, lawyers, village leaders and large land owners who has their small patch of privilege. They are also quite well off. Wealth begets education, so their children often tends to be set up well too.
Then there are the rest, those who were often historically serfs and discriminated classes such as ethnic minorities. Discrimination based on heritage is still alive in Japan once you get out of the major cities.
Taro Aso, for instance, is a classic local gentry turned national politician. His family runs a cement factory, chain of hospitals and few other businesses in Kyushu.
Tokyo is a slightly different story. Tokyo gets people from across Japan, and beyond. To an extent, people can leave their history and heritage behind. So you can find cases where people from traditionally discriminated backgrounds achieving success.
If I was still going to fit a class system on the urban population, the top would be the professionals and successful business owners. Second tier would be the full time employed, and the third tier would be everyone else.
For a social class to be called that, there has to be at least some barrier to movement between classes, and compared to the rural world, the barriers in the cities are significantly less.
Masayoshi Son was an ethnic Korean from Saga, from a discriminated background but his parents became successful in Fukuoka. He went on to become a Telecom magnate in Tokyo.
Studying is hard.
Getting into university is hard.
Finding a job is hard.
Finding a meaningful job is hard.
Finding meaningful leisure is hard.
All of these combined results in feelings of despair and nihilism, especially among young people.
On the topic of young people, many of them, in the workplace and school, are often subject to arbitrary tyranny by their elders, and this is justified by the culture. I hypothesize that this is because many of the older people don't have their shit together. They don't know how to act with integrity within the existing culture. This just adds to the resentment of young Koreans.
Lack of meaning and difficult material conditions (though nowhere nearing poverty, a silver lining I suppose) seem to incline them to view Korea as “hell". This is made worse by the fact that many ordinary people are constantly exposed to the affluent lifestyle of the upper quartile of income earners through the news and even in dramatized form such as movies and dramas. It's well documented that it's not poverty alone that causes negative emotions, but relative poverty. While Korea has moved past its days of impoverished living, still, there is a noticeable gap between those who have a lot and those who don't.
Also, with the introduction of democracy post-World War 2, the notion of “all being equal before the law” came along with it. However, South Korea's cultural legacy of Confucianism, elitism and strict hierarchies are in constant contradiction with this idea. So, the theory doesn't play out that fluently in South Korea. This is a problem because citizens are aware of this contradiction, and of course, feel resentment towards their country as a result.
Back to the point of relatively older people not having their shit together, the way in which they approach education is often perceived as unfair and outdated not only due to their knowledge of alternate methods, but just by experiencing and evaluating on its own merit.
It'll be interesting to see how this dynamic will eventually reach its climax.
To state my own thoughts, I hope that young Koreans, despite could-be-better conditions, will avoid being resentful and find some meaning that'll buttress them against, well, life.
We don’t have many “common” houses. Most of Korea lives in apartments. The old houses, many are elderly living in poverty, so they haven’t been fixed in over 50 years. Other houses in Seoul are mansions with yards.
I would love to own and modernize a “Hanok,” but live in Paju and most of them are run down. Many are well kept and many still live in them.
Homes and Villas in Paju. Villas are like multi unit townhomes.
Wow, There have been some hard reality or borderline negative responses. So let me give my take.
First, I am thrilled to hear that your daughter is open to living abroad and learning about a different culture. Kudos to you mom because this will be a benefit for her as we live in an increasingly globalized society.
Second, South Korea is a great country with a strong GDP, great technology and infrastructure, and the fastest internet in the world. The country boast awesome food and culture. Plus, South Korea is a gateway country to other Asian nations. Many foreigners can travel to Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam for relatively cheap. Also, South Korea is considered one of the safest countries in the World. This is is a good country for expats to settle in.
Now with any good comes some bad. South Korea is very homogeneous but the expat community is increasing. The education demands are very stringent on the young people and will be very different from what your daughter is used to from Western schools. Housing is small and expensive depending where you are located in the world. If your in London or New York, then the housing is spacious and cheap comparatively but if you are in the Midwest or Texas ( assuming USA), then it’s an expensive matchbox. I guess it’s all perspective. The K pop culture is propaganda but real S. Korean culture is pretty cool.
If I were you, I would visit before making the leap. If possible, take a 2 or 3 week vacation, rent an air bnb and live like a local for those few weeks. I would also encourage you to visit schools and look at apartments ( S. Korea has large key money Deposit ). Also, the job sector is extremely competitive but they are hiring American teachers or you can find a job with an NGO or American company stationed there.
If you do decide to move, just be patient with yourself and give yourself time to adjust. Learn the culture and language ( although many speak English in S. Korea). S. Korea may work out or it may not but it’s one great life experience either way. Also, explore other Asian countries, if S. Korea is not right for you.
Personally, I hope to become an expat someday and I don’t have any connections to the country of choice except my love for humanity and enjoyment of other cultures. The opportunity to live abroad is a blessing and it’s refreshing that a young person is interested in getting to know a different culture. Regardless if you ladies can go or not, your doing a good job Mom and will raise a globally aware young woman.
John McCrarey is correct. Additionally, the house is known for the color of its roof, rather than its walls like the White House.
In the Chosun dynasty (14th to 19th century Korea) the homes of yangban or government officials and gentry had blue tile roofs. The Blue House has a similar roof. In Korean, the house is known as Cheongwadae. Cheong is literally a blue-green color; wa is from the word tile. Dae is from a Chinese character which is hard to translate by itself, but you could think of it as roughly, “grand platform or place of formal occasions.”
A2A. Thank you.
Korea is scarce of land for housing. About 60 to 70 percent of the whole land in South Korea is mountainous, and most of rest is farms. So, actual territories for houses are very rare. So, they had no choice but to expand cities vertically unlike America sprawling horizontally.
As a result, people living in the house are in rural areas in many cases, and that’s why fancy mixed apartments with stores are considered luxury and expensive. Plus, houses built recently in cities are super-costly that common people can’t even dream of buying it and living there.
So, most urban South Koreans live in multi-generation buildings like Korean villa, normal apartments. Villas are for commoners in South Korea.
I say South Korea if you like attention. but for that to happen, you will already need to reside in South Korea, as you can’t move there on a budget or homeless. you will also need to have a good job prep before making such attempts. even know America sucks, make sure this is the choice you want as you don’t want to go there disappointed just to be back in America. the Korean culture can also be brutal for foreigners trying to adjust to it. especially if you can’t speak Korean, things are going to be a lot difficult. just like anywhere there will still be ups and downs and mistreatment on the way as when moving somewhere, nothing is 100% accurate as you will still struggle and trying to get around. but once your mind start adapting, it starts to get easier on the way as you will already be use to certain situations or mistreatment.
In the same way it does in any other country.
Sounds like to me that you're assuming this is something unusual because she's Korean, rather than taking it for what it is. Sometimes people marry for money or status. Sometimes people marry people that they don't love, and sometimes that might be affected by family issues. If you're curious, just ask her rather than trying to speculate with 'cultural' reasons.
I'm not trying to normalise marrying without love, arranged marriages are extinct in this day and age in Korea. There is the concept of 'seon' (again, not that common and only really for people who are looking for marriage partners rather than casual dating), which is when your parents set you up on a date with a suitable person, but it's up to the individual whether he or she wants to pursue that further.
Generally speaking, I think women who are well-educated, have a decent job and come from affluent backgrounds seek to match their own profile or 'better' it, but that's a trend that's by no means restricted to South Korea.
Korea is sometimes jokingly referred to as the United States' 51st state. This is only in regards to the economic and military relationships at the government level. The culture is quite different however.
wifi
parking
longer recorded history (over 5000 years)
cultural cuisine is strong and growing
Incheon Airport (Seoul) ranked #1 in the world
People are not casually friendly, but socially very kind
It is difficult to generalize the differences between South Korea and America. For example if you look at some of the old neighborhoods where people still live in old traditional ways, you might say, Korea is less developed than America. But then you consider the highly advanced internet infrastructure, high-class luxury living and incredibly advanced service industry (as seen at the Incheon Airport in Seoul), you will want to take back your words.
Or, if you think that Korea is such a dangerous place to live because of the naughty neighbors up north, you must then consider that there is NO gun presence and fear in Korea. There were ONLY 6 gun deaths per 10 Million people in Korea in 2002 for example. It simply is not a fear, and in fact, aside from dark places at night, it really is a safe place to live.
Many people think America has such a diverse selection of cuisine. While this is true on one level, if you visit Korea you will see than many of the same foods are available now, just not as readily, and, Korean cuisine itself is VERY diverse, offering many different dishes and utilizing nearly every natural resource possible on land and sea.
Upon visiting Korea for the first time you may think everyone is giving you the cold shoulder and being unkind. This is not the case however because Korean social ways just do not provide for much casual eye-contact and 'chatting' in public. If you are introduced to someone and become to know they, people are very friendly, kind and generous.
In conclusion, Korea and America are very similar on the surface, in terms of economic development and basic infrastructure. The people and cultural ways however make for very stark differences that are very difficult to determine without visiting for a long time.
Korea is a great place to visit and quite a comfortable place to live.
I can name one for each.
Pro: South Korean soldiers, The US and the UN succeeded at preserving South Korea safe despite the communist invasion today, saving more than 50 millions human beings from totalitarianism and a better chance to reunify the whole peninsula under a nation that value human rights in a near future for the 25 millions remaining others.
Con: They failed to reunify the whole peninsula under western influence, thanks for China, letting 25 millions living under dictatorship unable to anything going on outside of their country.
Edit: Regardless of what you think of US and the concept of democracy. I dare you to convince me that Korean peninsula would’ve been better reunified under Soviet influence. It is incertain whether North and South will come a one soon. But for now, i deeply for every wish North-Korean out there trying to escape their country, a successful passage to a safe country where they’ll be able to realize all of their dreams and achieve their hope.
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