In this ethnography of the everyday life of contemporary Korea, Denise Lett argues that South Korea's contemporary urban middle class not only exhibits upper-class characteristics but also that this reflects a culturally inherited disposition of Koreans to seek high status. This has combined with a favourable political and economic climate that has made it possible for many to achieve it. Lett shows how the Confucian legacy - especially the yangban tradition - has been a driving force behind the development of South Korea's new middle class and the country's rapid emergence as a global...
In this ethnography of the everyday life of contemporary Korea, Denise Lett argues that South Korea's contemporary urban middle class not only exhibit...