• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.4-22
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to explore the structure of social discourse on aging in Korea by analyzing newspaper articles on aging. The analysis is composed of three steps: first, data collection and preprocessing; second, identifying the latent topics; and third, observing yearly dynamics of topics. In total, 1,472 newspaper articles that included the word "aging" within the title were collected from 10 major newspapers between 2006 and 2019. The underlying topic structure was analyzed using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), a topic modeling method widely adopted by text mining academics and researchers. Seven latent topics were generated from the LDA model, defined as social issues, death, private insurance, economic growth, national debt, labor market innovation, and income security. The topic loadings demonstrated a clear increase in public interest on topics such as national debt and labor market innovation in recent years. This study concludes that media discourse on aging has shifted towards more productivity and efficiency related issues, requiring older people to be productive citizens. Such subjectivation connotes a decreased role of the government and society by shifting the responsibility to individuals not being able to adapt successfully as productive citizens within the labor market.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.63
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• pp.5-25
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• 2013

Korean society suffers from severe divisions represented by bi-polarization and collapse of the middle class. Intensive demanding on expanding social welfare budget has emerged in accordance with such a dramatic shift. Social consensus moving toward well-financed welfare policy, however, happens to meet political opposition supported by the discourse of fiscal soundness. This paper thus pays particular attention to deciphering the discursive structure in way of understanding how discourses bring public policy into play. For this purpose, news articles about fiscal soundness collected from 8 national newspapers have been analyzed in terms of frame, attitude, perspective and world view. Research results show, first of all, that there exist persistent competition between two frames identified as 'reduced tax with fiscal discipline' and 'increased tax with welfare money.' While the 'reduced tax' frame favors in maintaining tax cut at the expense of welfare budjet, the frame of 'increased tax' supports such arguments as the flexible employment of fiscal soundness and prosperity of national community helped by widening tax revenues. Also did these frames include a number of sub-frames like welfare populism, partisan politics, trickle down effect, tax bonanza for the rich, universal welfare and market over-reactions in order to bolster its logical authority. Media's active taking a part in penetrating supportive frames in line with political stance was found as well. Taking into account both the discursive structure upheld by frames and politics materialized by the media, the authors argue that public policies should be considered more as discourse than fixed reality. Shedding additional light on understanding the interplay among public opinion, policies and media discourse is of another importance for further study.

• Journal of Family Relations
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.67-87
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to critically review the recent discourse on single-person households (SPH) that appeared in Korean newspapers. Specifically, we analyzed articles in five major daily newspapers, which are representative of the media in Korean society, and examined the types of titles, subjects, and contents of articles in which SPH were mentioned. Method: For this purpose, 538 articles on SPH or "living alone" that appeared in the five major Korean newspapers during 2011-2017 were analyzed using content analysis methods. Results: Our analysis revealed eight major topics(living arrangement and household characteristics; financial instruments; food, clothing, and housing culture; policy; welfare; relationships; safety; values and attitudes). The results show that there is a surge of articles portraying neutral images of SPH in Korean newspapers, thereby emphasizing the recent growth in the number of SPH and the information relating to this population group. Although negative images of SPH continue to exist in the discourse, in recent times we found these attitudes to have become less prevalent compared to neutral images or even positive discourse. We also found that the discourse on these topics and arguments can be divided into four themes-the diversity of SPHs, the solo economy for single households, safety issues, and social relationships. Conclusions: Theoretical and policy implications on family studies relating to SPH are discussed.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.58
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• pp.130-153
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to examine how the $Dong-A$ $Ilbo$, a prevailing newspaper in Korea, has constructed 5.18 discourse. In the last thirty years or so in Korea, '5.18(the Gwangju Democratization Movement)', in both academic and social realm, has been one of the most disputed issues in the process of political change. However, little attention has been given to this topic in the field of communication study. Thus, we attempted to illuminate the construction of 5.18 dicourse by using terms analysis and discourse analysis of editorials during the period of May 18, 1980-December 31, 2010. From the study, it is found that the use of terms has changed from 'crisis' through 'resistance', 'slaughter', 'revolt' to 'democratization movement' in the $Dong-A$ $Ilbo$. And it is also found that 5.18 discourse has been developed in the order of 'tragic incident discourse', 'truth investigation discourse', 'rehabilitation discourse', 'deferment discourse', 'punishment discourse', 'political strife discourse' in the editorials of the $Dong-A$ $Ilbo$. These shifts of terms and discourse have been mostly led by socio-political changes. Based on the research results, the central characteristics of 5.18 discourse of the Korean mainstream press were elaborated and the implications of the results were discussed.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.65-79
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• 2013

This paper examines communication patterns of key Twitter users by considering the socially and politically controversial Sejong City issue in South Korea. The network and message data were drawn from twtkr.com. Social network-based indicators and visualization methods were used to analyze political discourse among key Twitter users over time and illustrate various types of Tweets by these users and the interconnection between these key users. In addition, the study examines general Twitter users' participation in the discussion on the issue. The results indicate that some Twitter profiles of media outlets tend to be very dominant in terms of their message output, whereas their Tweets are not likely to be circulated by other users. Noteworthy is that Twitter profiles of individuals who are geographically affiliated with the issue are likely to play an important role in the flow of communication.

• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.143-180
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• 2019

This article aims to examine the manner in which the 'Byeongmat' discourse was constructed, and the mechanism of the 'Byeongmat' discourse. I claim that the constructed discourse excludes disabled persons and women. When the 'Byeongmat' first appeared in the mainstream, it was understood as being presented only by webtoons. Furthermore 'Byeongmat' and webtoons were understood as almost synonymous. In this sense, it is no exaggeration to say that the way in which the 'Byeongmat' discourse was constructed is the way in which 'Byeongmat webtoons' were interpreted. In this article, to find out how the 'Byeongmat' discourse was constructed, I examine two things. First, the reception of media of 'Byeongmat'. 'Byeongmat' was at first understood as 'kitsch' by the media, but soon after generational meaning was added. Second, the interpretation of 'Byeongmat' in academia. In academia, the 'Byeongmat' discourse is advanced as a refined generationalism. Regardless of the 'Byeongmat webtoon' itself, 'Byeongmat webtoon' is interpreted as a text which is destructing narrative and filled with parodies. Furthermore this characteristic of the 'Byeongmat webtoon' is interpreted as a resistance culture of the younger generation. However, this interpretation serves as a mechanism which excludes the disabled and women. Currently, Korean society faces the popularization of the 'Byeongmat' code, the decline of the 'Byeongmat webtoons' and the crack of the younger generation discourse. The current situation allows the 'Byeongmat' discourse to be criticized without losing its social context while securing a distance of critcism. I expect that this article can contribute to further diversifying interpretations of 'Byeongmat' and 'Byeongmat webtoons', and accelerating the crack on the younger generation discourse.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.29-39
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• 2015

This study has attempted to determine the micro-discourse from blogs as personal media that reflect citizens' actual opinions of the Seoul Forest without intervention of experts. Furthermore, a qualitative research method discourse analysis was selected to analyze the micro-discourse regarding the Seoul Forest in a time series. The extracted samples of blogs by year were intended to identify the comment section of the process of change and the discursive structure. The results are as follows; first, from the beginning of the development of the Seoul Forest to the present, it is divided into four chronological periods along with individuals' micro-discourse with social changes. During the beginning of the development of the Seoul Forest, the social discourse was formed, and in the next period, the micro-discourse was developed with a more emotional and complex discourse. In the formative period, four or five years later, the discourse reflected the civic consciousness of development more than ever, showing the diversity of participation in the program at the Seoul Forest. In the growth period, as the users' experiences had been accumulated, the users started writing about the role of the Seoul Forest in their own words. This can also be called place discourse. From the individuals' micro-discourse, this study shows the discourse structure of how individuals think about the Seoul Forest in each period. Unlike the experts, the micro-discourse contains specific daily interactions, experiences, and the stories of individuals who actually use the parks. It also shows how users reproduce and understand the space. In this respect, this is the most significant finding of this study. Based on this research, this study has demonstrated that the emotional description of a place that actually functions as a discourse about city parks, and confirms that blogs could be used as a space to form discourse and as a research tool to read the trends. In accordance with these results, this study has described not only the discourse of experts, but also how the discourse of individuals' comments can be an important part of the discourse of modern urban parks.

• 한국노년학
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.353-371
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to provide clues to social welfare policy making by revealing discourse on social intervention and response based on big data on elderly living alone in the COVID-19 situation. Keyword analysis, network analysis, and topic analysis were utilized to explore the ways in which news media have portrayed challenges facing older individuals and the ways in which the central and local government as well as private organization have responded to them. Results are as follows. First, networks(degree, closeness, betweenness) were formed around region, delivery, society, support, and vulnerability, suggesting an increased demand for economic assistance and social support as well as stronger service delivery systems. Second, key topics derived included "establishing public delivery systems", "establishing local networks", "Managing care gap", "Establishing a private economic support system", and "Establishing service organization system". Based on the research results, discourse on the organic role of government, communities and the private sector has been presented, suggesting policy and practical implications by proposing a discussion on how to intervene for elderly living alone in disaster situations such as COVID-19.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.38-57
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• 2024

This study utilizes social big data to investigate the factors influencing the awareness, attitude, and behavior toward vegan fashion consumption among global and Korean consumers. Social media posts containing the keyword "vegan fashion" were gathered, and meaningful discourse patterns were identified using semantic network analysis and sentiment analysis. The study revealed that diverse factors guide the purchase of vegan fashion products within global consumer groups, while among Korean consumers, the predominant discourse involved the concepts of veganism and ethics, indicating a heightened awareness of vegan fashion. The research then delved into the factors underpinning awareness (comprehension of animal exploitation, environmental concerns, and alternative materials), attitudes (both positive and negative), and behaviors (exploration, rejection, advocacy, purchase decisions, recommendations, utilization, and disposal). Global consumers placed great significance on product-related information, whereas Korean consumers prioritized ethical integrity and reasonable pricing. In addition, environmental issues stemming from synthetic fibers emerged as a significant factor influencing the awareness, attitude, and behavior regarding vegan fashion consumption. Further, this study confirmed the potential presence of cultural disparities influencing overall awareness, attitude, and behavior concerning the acceptance of vegan fashion, and offers insights into vegan fashion marketing strategies tailored to specific cultures, aiming to provide vegan fashion companies and brands with a deeper understanding of their consumer base.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.65-77
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• 2018

Recently, the number of 'single-person household' is increasing rapidly. It brings about changes in the societal cultural aspect. Examples of television programs focused on their lifestyle provoked the societal attention as a important social agenda. This research investigated to figure out inherent ideologies in of tvN through Semiotic and Discourse analyses. As a result, predominant ideologies were revealed on the basis of representations of such single-person households. The authors also tried to find out how the media represent attitudes of single-person households and figure out how the media approach their ways of lives on bases of specific discourses and ideologies.