• Survey Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.63-85
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• 2010

This study defines the substance and multi-dimension of emotional reactions which Koreans have toward foreigners to find the starting point of change in values which is an inevitable task in this multi-cultural society. The results indicate that the Bogardus scale which has been used to measure the social distance toward the minority race is found to have limitations in explaining the closed attitude of Koreans toward 'nation' and 'kinship through marriage'. To supplement such limitations, exploration on attitudes toward foreigners from different native places is performed based on the 'evaluation', 'power' and 'activity' dimensions of the Affective Control Theory. As a result, Americans are highly evaluated in all three dimensions while Japanese are evaluated low in the 'evaluation' dimension and high in the 'power' and 'activity' dimensions. North Korean defectors and ethnic Koreans from China (the Chosun race) are high in evaluation but low in other dimensions. West Asians are evaluated low in all three dimensions. By comprehending the influencing factors and the relative influence of social distance, it proves that the 'evaluation' dimension is the common denominator in all groups while 'power' dimension toward Japanese and 'activity' dimensions toward Chinese and West Asians influence social distance. All foreigners excluding Americans receive closer social distance when having higher education level. Moreover, American women and older North Korean defectors receive closer social distance.