Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Shin, Jin-Wook

Titel

Individualisation of civil society in the context of the information age: the case of South Korea

Ist Teil von

• International social science journal, 2013-09, Vol.64 (213-214), p.249-261

Auflage

English edition

Ort / Verlag

Paris: Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Quelle

Wiley-Blackwell Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This article focuses on the shift from the organised to a more individualised civil society in South Korea, specifically in the context of the information age. Korean civil society saw a growth in democratisation movements during decades of authoritarian rule that ended with the successful civil uprising in 1987. After the political opening of 1987, reform-oriented forces in Korean civil society have been differentiated into diverse sectors, and many experienced a rapid institutionalisation and professionalisation. In the 2000s, however, the importance of these civil society organisations gradually weakened, while communication networks based on the Internet and social network services (SNS) and the spontaneous protests of individual actors have come to the fore. The present article analyses this historical shift in the Korean civil society and presents the characteristic features of the emerging individualised civil society, including its weaknesses and problems.