Economic Crisis and the Quality of Life in Korea

Abstract

It is argued that Korea's economic crisis since the late 1997 has had some serious effects on the people's life, specifically given the underdevelopment of its social welfare system. This study attempts to analyze both to what extent our current economic crisis has a serious effect on the people's quality of life and which social classes are more seriously suffering. In order to explore these objectives, this study analyzes the empirical research data collected from Chonbuk Province. According to its data analysis, Korea's economic crisis has considerably deteriorated the quality of life, such as the occupational, economic family, leisure, self-esteem, and community lives. In particular, the decline of the quality of life is considerably differential among social classes. For example, the industrial workers and farmers have experienced the most decline of the quality of life, while professionals, managers, and kindred workers have relatively experienced the least decline of it. These results imply that Korea's economic crisis functions to deepen the social inequality and that the latter may block the integration of the people indispensable for overcoming the current economic crisis. In this critical context, this study briefly suggests to build a long-term social welfare system for mitigating the social discontent of the alienated classes.