Anti-Gender Politics, Economic Insecurity, and Right-Wing Populism: The Rise of Modern Sexism among Young Men in South Korea

Abstract

The 2022 presidential election in Korea saw a huge swing of young men toward the conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, which was decisive for his electoral victory. This unprecedented electoral volatility created a gendered division among young voters, who had been a solid progressive voting block supporting the center-left party. The article shows how the conservatives’ anti-feminist campaign drove a wedge between young men and women, and it investigates the sources of modern sexism that allowed the successful mobilization of young men. In doing so, it points to the socioeconomic foundations of anti-gender politics: economic insecurity caught up with traditional familism and marital norms produced toxic anxiety among young men because leading a “normal life” of marriage and family is deemed beyond their reach. This anxiety made them vulnerable to the right-wing populism that was at the heart of the conservatives’ anti-feminist campaign.