Affective networks, social capital, and modernity in Korea

Abstract

In the previous chapter, the focus was placed on the psychological effect of Confucianism in Korea. This chapter and the following chapters pay greater attention to distinctive features of Korean society. One of the seeming anomalies of this otherwise rapid and apparently thorough transition to modernity in Korea is the continued presence of strong "affective networks" (yuangu guanxi in Chinese, yon’go kwankye in Korean). Indeed, one of the most striking characteristics of modern Korean society is the intricately webbed nexus among state/nonstate and official/nonofficial sectors. As was clearly revealed during the Asian financial crisis of 1997, many hitherto successful Asian economies, including that of South Korea, were characterized by strong state-business ties and business-to-business ties, which went beyond the kind usually found in modern capitalist economies.