• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.270-279
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• 2002

1997년 IMF 경제위기 이후 한국사회의 뚜렷한 변화의 하나는 빈부격차의 확대와 함께 사회계층의 양극화가 진행되고 있다는 점이다. 이 논문의 목적은 사회적 양극화의 주요 원인은 무엇이며, 사회적 양극화가 공간적으로는 어떻게 나타나는가를 서울을 사례로 하여 규명하는 데 있다. 서구 선진자본주의 국가에서 사회적 양극화에 대한 논의는 이미 1990년대 초 세계화 또는 세계도시가 주요한 연구주제로 등장하면서 시작되었다. 1980년대 이후 선진자본주의 국가를 중심으로 한계에 도달한 포드주의 축적체계가 포스트 포드주의로 급속히 전환되면서 사회적 양극화가 자본의 유연화 및 세계화 전략과 맞물리는 현상으로 인식되었기 때문이다. 이런 점에서 최근 전개되고 있는 한국의 사회적 양극화는 서구 선진국과 유사하다. 1997년 경제위기 이후 세계화가 급속히 진행되는 가운데 지식기반경계의 대두로 고소득 전문직이 등장하는 반면, 중산층의 몰락과 더불어 임시적 고용이 확대되고 실업이 만성화되는 등 자본의 세계화와 유연화 과정에서 나타나는 양극화 양상이 보이기 때문이다. 이와 같은 맥락에서 한국의 사회적 양극화는 이미 1990년대 초부터 진행되어 왔으며, IMF 경제위기는 단지 그러한 사회적 양극화를 급속히 진행시키는 방아쇠 역할을 하였다고 할 수 있다. 그러나 양국의 사회적 양극화는 직업구조와 임금소득의 격차만으로 설명하기 어려운 또 다른 특성을 갖는다. 왜곡된 시장구조에서 무엇보다도 부동산과 같은 자산소득의 격차가 큰 역할을 하기 때문이다. 서울은 이와 같은 한국의 사회적 양극화가 한 도시 내에서 전형적으로 전개되는 곳이라고 할 수 있다. 한국 내 어떤 도시보다도 세계화되어 있고 전문지식을 기반으로 하는 산업이 발달하고 있기 때문이다. 서울의 사회적 양극화는 공간적으로도 나타난다. 일반적으로 서울은 크게 주거지로서는 공동화되고 있는 중구 종로구 용산구 등 사대문안의 구도심지역, 강남구 서초구 송파구 등을 중심으로 한 1970년대 이후 계획적으로 계발된 이른바 강남의 신흥주택 및 신산업 지역, 영등포구 구로구 금천구 성동구 동대문구 등 제조업 중심의 구 산업 및 저소득층 주거지역 그리고 그 나머지 강북 강서 강동 등의 전형적인 주거지역 등 4개 유형으로 지역이 구분된다. 그러나 IMF 경제위기 이후에 강남구 서초구 송파구를 중심으로 하는 고소득증의 주거지와 그 나머지 주거지로 공간적 양극화가 이루어지고 있다. 사회적 양극화의 이와 같은 공간화 과정에는 자산소득의 격차를 확대하는 강남구 서초구 송파구의 높은 지가 및 아파트 가격이 중요한 역할을 하고 있다. 높은 부동산 가격이 이 지역에 대한 일종의 진입장벽을 참음으로써 고소득층에 의한 공간독점을 가능하게 하기 때문이다. 공간적 양극화를 촉진하는데는 지하철 및 문화복지시설의 집중 둥 불균형적인 공공투자와 강북에서 이전한 명문고등학교를 중심으로 형성된 8학군 등 양호한 교육환경 또한 중요한 역할을 하고 있다. 서울의 사례에서 확인할 수 있듯이, 한국에서의 사회적 양극화는 직업구조와 임금소득이라는 일반적인 요인 외에도 부동산 가격 및 소득 그리고 생활인프라의 격차를 통해 공간적 양극화물 야기하고 있다. 이러한 현상이 한국내 다른도시에서도 전개되고 있는지, 공간적 양극화로 인한 도시문제는 무엇이고 대처방안은 무엇인지 등에 대해서 후속연구가 요구된다.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.129-142
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• 2011

This study investigates the patterns of labor market polarization and analyzes the characteristics and roles of regional labor market in the structuring process of the polarization in the metropolitan areas of Korea. The labor market polarization plays a role of key mechanism for deepening social exclusion in the area through expanding low-pay jobs and working poor. It is of great significance to adopt a spatial approach of local labor market in order to understand underlying dynamics of labor market polarization. Especially it is necessary to develop a more differentiated and systematic policy options based on the analysis of labor market polarization in the metropolitan areas of Korea. It is because understanding spatial differentiation of labor market dynamics is essential to figure out the structuring processes of poverty and sociall exclusion in the metropolican labor market in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.87-108
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• 2013

With questionnaires conducted for 613 adult Koreans in Seoul, the present study examined how their social features (income level, political party identification, political values, values of capitalism and egalitarianism) exercise influence on attitudes toward income polarization and their evaluation of government policies. Two groups of participants (high vs. low) for each social feature were formed first. Then their attitudes toward income polarization (liberal vs. conservative) and evaluations of policies (liberal vs. conservative) exercised by government (Participatory vs. Practical) were compared. Results indicated that liberal value was strengthened by liberal value, anti-capitalistic, and conservative value was strengthened by egalitarian values, and party identification. It was also found that party identification partial effect on the judgment of policies exercised by Participatory Government. These findings were discussed in terms of their implications for Korean society and measures for communication constructive for settlement of income polarization were suggested.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.261-304
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• 2013

This article is aiming intensively to analyze the polarizing tendency of labour market and social integration. The polarization of labour market is being regarded as one of the hottest issues not less important than those problems of economic growth, employment, income distribution and national security etc. in the national policy. In this article, we will first follow up the important phenomena of labour market polarization and the background as well as its consequence. Especially, it asks if the present labour policy in the new government which is now being concentrated on the improvement of employment rate(from the present 63% to the 70% in the future) could deserve to diminish the polarization of labour market in korea. At one side, this article makes the special attention on the diversifying tendency of labour market and the various phenomena of fragmentation and segmentation in the labour market according to the forms and types of employment and according to the employee's status as much as the company's size. At the other side, it emphasizes that to overcome the polarization of labour market should require the wide reform from the legal measure to the improvement of the wage system, and the qualification system and the social investment as well as the human resource development. Furthermore, this article stresses the importance of integrative approach between the active market policy and the social policy instead of choosing each policy option, seperatively.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.77-109
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• 2005

On the basis of the Korea Labor and Income Panel Survey for the 1997 through 2003 period, this paper investigates if the income distribution has become more bi-polarized since the recent financial crisis. The polarization measure developed by Esteban and Ray(l994) and Duclos, Esteban, and Ray(2004) indicates that the distribution of total income has become much more bi-polarized than unequalized for the entire sample period. Second, the rapid increase in the bi-polarization measure is attributed to the enhanced within-group homogeneity among the lower-income group as well as the widening gap between the two groups in the mean income level. Third, no such pattern exists in the distribution of labor income. Overall, the findings in the current study would support the hypothesis of a centrifuging society which is characterized by the slow disappearance of the middle class and the formation of two poles and which is observed in the United States and the United Kingdom among others.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.461-483
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• 2011

This study aims to recognize the definite cognition of Korean people about Social Polarization and to define its category. For this study, Qualitative Research is provided to 38 candidates who live in Seoul. The results show that the reason of the social polarization is divided into 4 categories such as Impossible Social Class Change, Can be the middle class, Can be the Rich, Possible Social Class Change. And the solution of polarization is divided into 4 categories such as Progressive Solution, Moderate Progressive Solution, Moderate Conservative Solution, Conservative Solution. On the basis of the cross-tabulation of the reason and solution of polarization, Most of Korean have tendency to cognize the reason of polarization conservatively, but the solution of polarization is cognized progressively. And This study tries to discuss the meaning of the categories and the implications for consensual communication of Social polarization in korean society.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2015

It is widely believed that increasing socio-economic polarization inspired by globalization and economic restructuring worsens residential segregation by class in Korean cities. However, the existing literature falls short in showing the recent changes of the residential segregation, particularly after the 1997 financial crisis, with reliable and systematic segregation measures. Noting that there are the two major dimension in residential segregation - evenness-concentration and exposure-clustering - this study introduced not only global measure (dissimilarity index and isolation/interaction index) but also local measures (location quotient and Local Moran's I) for each dimension. These measures are applied to the case study of Seoul in the 2000s. The class is defined by education attainment and the data is obtain through the MicroData System Service System(MDSS). The result shows that the residential segregation by education attainment persists through 2000s and even get worse in some dimension. More significantly, it turns out that high-class and low-class residence are nearly mirror-images of each other, indicating high segregation.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.89-109
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• 2006

The 'Joongsancheung(JSC)', a unique term for the middle class in Korea, is defined as a stratum sharing common lifestyles and a certain level of life chances. It involves non-economic factors such as life chance, educational attainment, occupational groups as well as economic factor. Such objective measures as the occupational status of the main breadwinner, family income, and the educational level of respondent, and subjective measures of class identification are used for the operational definition of the JSC. Data from a national survey of 1,515 respondents is analyzed to investigate the change of the JSC in size and the major determinants of class identification. The results show that while there is no strong evidence of any significant change of the JSC by the objective measures during the recent decade, there seems to be a slight decrease in the subjective class identification. In addition, binary logistical regression analysis reveals that self-identification of JSC is heavily influenced by house ownership, along with subjective evaluation of one's own income and property ownership. This study demonstrates that the apparent class polarization in Korean society reflects not so much objective conditions but subjective perception of respondent of his or her circumstance. It is suggested that problems of housing and relative derivation people have as regards income and property should be resolved to alleviate such class polarization in Korean society.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.49-68
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• 2022

This study was conducted to design a financial system for the sustainable life of mankind. Human society faces a constant crisis and leads a life while overcoming it. The polarization is intensifying in the process of overcoming the economic crisis or crisis caused by the virus. In a society adopting the capitalist economic system, it is a common phenomenon that polarization intensifies with the passage of time, but since the intensification of polarization can destroy human society as a community, active countermeasures are required. The purpose of this study was to prevent the deepening of polarization by redesigning important financial-related systems from the perspective of human life and maintenance of human society. Through the history of mankind, monetary and financial systems related to sustainable society have been analyzed, and a financial system model that is ideal for the modern and future society and is sustainable in the long term has been derived. The conditions for a long-term sustainable financial system should be a model that can solve the problems of the current system, such as deepening polarization, and a model that is faithful to the characteristics of the modern economic society and the essence of sustainable life. And it can be sustainable only if it is based on the common principles of human society. It should be a model that guarantees core values such as growth and equality that human society demands. After analyzing the problems of the current economic system and analyzing the conditions required for the new system, the basic axioms that the new financial system should be based on were presented, and a desirable model was derived based on this. The structure of the derived model and the specific operation model were presented. In the future, follow-up studies are needed to concrete this model.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.47-55
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• 2022

Hate crimes should be viewed as a social problem, not a personal crime, and a preventive system should be established to have an acceptance system for people who can engage in antisocial behavior outside of the social integrated value norms. In particular, in order to reduce tragic hate crimes, society and the government should actively work to resolve polarization, and personality education linked to families, schools, and society should be provided, and policies to establish social safety network such as social security systems should be prepared. In addition, it is necessary to switch to a society in which principles are emphasized, and a society that cares for the weak rather than the strong, rather than the expedient policy of words.