This study belongs to a set of research with an aim to investigate issues of historicity and particularity of the contemporary Korean society. To achieve the goal, this study identifies, in depth and from various dimensions, the context and its socio- ...
This study belongs to a set of research with an aim to investigate issues of historicity and particularity of the contemporary Korean society. To achieve the goal, this study identifies, in depth and from various dimensions, the context and its socio-cultural meanings on how nostalgia emerged in the contemporary Korean society; from these findings this study further goes into investigating characteristics of the Korean society, which have not been highlighted before. This study categorizes and classifies nostalgia phenomena in the contemporary Korean society as belows.
First, we conceptualized nostalgia 'between modernity and post-modernity' to reveal post-modern conditions as results of social development and social changes, which the Korean society has experienced while going through rapid modernization and industrialization since the 1960s. Triggered from the compressed modernization, the Korean society is recently faced with a chaotic situation with unprecedented phenomena; one of these unprecedented phenomena is nostalgia. Therefore, this study reviews the phenomenon of nostalgia, which stands at the junction of modernity and post-modernity, first at a theoretical level; then this study analyzes, at the level of daily life, the phenomenon of nostalgia for rural areas, and thus the strong emotional support for the back-to-the-farming movement, among the industrialization generation.
Second, we conceptualized nostalgia that is 'between memories and fantasies' to find the historic context and its meaning of obsessive emotions and actions toward someone from the past or even an imaginative being. Here, this study analyzes the mechanism of action among those who search for the restaurants that serve the 'good old mother's taste'; furthermore, this study explores into the social meaning of an act of aspiring toward a rustic life in the contemporary urbanized society, and also an act of aspiring toward 'good old taste that my mother used to make' rather than finding fancy food in fancy restaurants. This study also intended to understand characteristics of nostalgia industry through looking into nostalgia for schools of the people before the abolition of school uniforms. This study also investigates the characteristics of the emigrated Korean population through their nostalgia for homeland.
Finally, we conceptualized 'Between media and reminiscence' to analyze the mechanism of how diverse cultural constructs diffused through media can inspire and move people again decades after their first appearances. Here, this study analyzes the way in which Korean people represent and consume love through studying into the representation of 'first love' and the return of romantic love in movies. In the field of music, this study explores the phenomenon of nostalgia for and its meaning of the pop music among the people who spent their 20s during 1970s and 1980s. In the field of literature, this study elicits the emergence of 'recollection literature' in the 2000s and its esthetic and social meaning. Lastly, this study observes the characteristics of consumption culture for nostalgia through the recently popularized casual games. These casual games have gained much popularity with development of smart mobile phones and social networking services, even among the Korean people above 40s, who had not been into playing games before.
In working to achieve the study purpose, we have held 2 advisory board meetings with experts, numerous investigator meetings, and an open study report presentation session. We have dutifully performed our obligations of enhancing the quality of our study. We feel that this study set theoretical and methodological grounds, and thus contributes to the framework for the future prospective studies on the subject of nostalgia.