1st Edition

Women, Television and Everyday Life in Korea Journeys of Hope

By Youna Kim Copyright 2005
    248 Pages
    by Routledge

    248 Pages
    by Routledge

    Fusing audience research and ethnography, the book presents a compelling account of women’s changing lives and identities in relation to the impact of the most popular media culture in everyday life: television.

    Within the historically-specific social conditions of Korean modernity, Youna Kim analyzes how Korean women of varying age and class group cope with the new environment of changing economical structure and social relations. The book argues that television is an important resource for women, stimulating them to research their own lives and identities. Youna Kim reveals Korean women as creative, energetic and critical audiences in their responses to evolving modernity and the impact of the West.

    Based on original empirical research, the book explores the hopes, aspirations, frustrations and dilemmas of Korean women as they try to cope with life beyond traditional grounds. Going beyond the traditional Anglo-American view of media and culture, this text will appeal to students and scholars of both Korean area studies and media and communications studies.

    Part 1: General Issues  1. Women, Television and Everyday Life  1.1 Western Literature  1.2 Korean Literature  2. The Socio-Economic Position of Women in Korea  2.1 Confucianism  2.2 Education  2.3 Work  2.4 Marriage and Family 

    2.5 Sexuality  3. The Body, TV Talk and Emotion  3.1 A Normative Ideal of the Body: Who Could be There?  3.2 TV Talk as a Method  3.3 Emotion as an Effect  Part 2: Working Class Women  4. Living in the Traditional Way  4.1 Misery of Everyday Life: TV, Gender and Emotion  4.2 Power of Everyday Life: Son as a Tactic  4.3 Reading Against Primetime Feminism  4.4 TV Realism and Identification  4.5 Reinvigorating Tradition  5. Coping and Adapting: Family Life in Transition  5.1 TV Rituals, Security and Intimacy  5.2 TV and Childcare: "I Try Not to Watch TV Because of the Child"  5.3 Fantasy of Dominance  5.4 A-ha! Emotion: Reading the Popular  6. Yearning for Change: The Younger Generation  6.1 Work, Marriage and Feminism  6.2 Representation of Women on Korean Television: "It’s Always Killing Smart Women"  6.3 Play in the Global Telecity: "TV is My Best Friend"  6.4 Representation of the West in the Korean Imagination  6.5 Yearning for Free Choice, Social Mobility and Change  6.6 Rejecting Western Sexuality  Part 3: The Middle Class  7. Older Women in Control: Power and Domesticity  7.1 TV, Emotion and Shifting Power: "Now it’s Women’s Times!"  7.2 Middle-Class Leisure and Television  7.3 TV Reflexivity: Women’s Work and Childcare  7.4 Family, TV and Moral Discourse  8. Professional Young Mothers: The Care of the Self  8.1 Unavailability of Husband, TV and Childcare  8.2 Child Education and Professionalization of Motherhood  8.3 Escape into Romance: "I Will Be Always There For You"  9. Becoming an Individual: Life-Style and Life Choices  9.1 Employment and Uncertainty: Whose Individualization?  9.2 A Return to Pleasure: Entertainment and Hope  9.3 Talking Back to The West: But Who Will Listen?  Part 4: Journeys of Hope  10. Conclusion  10.1 Reflexivity at Work  10.2 Class, Generation and Reflexivity  10.3 Tradition/Morality/Family/Nation (Women in their 50s)  10.4 Transition/Negotiation/Intimacy/Emotion (Women in their 30s)  10.5 Openness/Play/Imagination/Freedom (Women in their 20s)  10.6 The Tradition-/The Inner-/The Other-Directed Culture of Everyday Life.  Appendix: List of Interviewees

    Biography

    Youna Kim is Lecturer in Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

    'In this interesting book, Youna Kim investigates the impact of television on the everyday lives and identities of South Korean women.' - Political Studies Review

    'Women, Television and Everyday Life in Korea is illuminating, demonstrating that identities are fluid, personal, multiple and subject to change in women today. The book is easily readable, enjoyable and well-organised.' - Media, Culture and Society

    'The book will no doubt contribute to paving the way for more research on, and theoretical approaches to, understanding the social world of Korean women and their everyday lives.'- Media, Culture and Society