According to Korea Gallup, young generations do not stand for progressive parties today. 35.3 percent of 20s said they were conservative, 33.6 said they were progressive. They seem to be more conservative than 30s. Professionals term this social phenomenon ?eo-conservatism.
Lim Hyun-chin, a Sociology professor from Seoul National Univ. says the key factor of the change is the transformation of Korean society in context of specialization. ?olitics used to be in the core of Korean society, however, society became professionalized. Moreover, dichotomous conceptions like conservative vs. progressive no longer hold meanings, and each person has multi-identity, conservative in politics, the opposite in economics etc.
The viewpoint of psychiatrist, Dr. Rim Hyo-deog from KyungPook National Univ. , the chief of Department of Psychiatry bears post-modernism approach. ?here is no specific cause for such phenomenon, it is always multi-factorial. In addition, politically conservative people used to stand against every change in consideration of vested rights. In contrast, today conservative people are not whom oppose all innovations, in that they pursue true stability and fresh changes in it. And this is shown in forms of neo-conservatism.
Students say that their conservativeness is from their parents who are in their 50s because students are more dependent on them. Others say that neo-conservatism is a harmonious form of two contradictory ideas: conservatism and progressivism, and well shows how students put ?tability first in their value list. ?nother word for neo-conservatism can be neo-progressivism, and students are likely to avoid extreme sides and tend to negotiate with reality, says Seo Min-sun (Psychology, 2).
The fact that students freely discuss their political opinions tells another change in Korean society. Unlike 70? and 80?, Korean society is more individual-oriented and opened and this was a fundamental basis of new neo flow.
The neo-conservatism is a follow-up result of New Scientific Movement in comprehensive frame of post-modernism. As world is under its influence, Korea, no exception, and students who are to lead the future, are both conservative and progressive. These are all relative concepts that students today seem to be more conservative than those before. Maybe Neo-conservatism and students hold dialectic solution for present Korean politics stained with faction, vested interest and black money.
hjjewel@ewha.ac.kr