Why aren’t Koreans satisfied?

by robert neff on February 27, 2012

Apparently because of a lack of trust in people. According to the Choson Ilbo (February 27, 2012):

Korea ranks 31st out of 32 OECD members in a study of life satisfaction, far below Korea’s per-capita income ranking of 22 in the organization.

And

Korea fared particularly poorly in the category of trust in people. The study said that “trust in people has a stronger positive association with life satisfaction in Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Israel, Korea, Luxembourg and Switzerland, which have low average levels of social trust” and added that countries with low life satisfaction also displayed greater income inequality, creating a sense of loss and intensifying competitive pressure.

According to the report, the only country with a lower satisfaction rate than Korea was Estonia. The countries with the greatest satisfaction were, in order, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Ireland and Austria. If you are curious about your country’s ranking – like I was – you can go straight to the report – PDF File.

I thought it was interesting the Choson Ilbo did not include this in their article:

Globally, women report higher levels of life satisfaction than men, except in Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

They also neglected to add this.

Being divorced has a significant negative impact in a large number of countries, but the relationship with life satisfaction is particularly strong in Ireland, Italy, Korea, Portugal and Turkey.

{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }

1 nayaCasey February 27, 2012 at 3:05 pm: I heard a rumor that Hamel has been riding his CFE hobby-horse so much that he broke it. He is now dropping it off at the Ambrose Bierce Hobby Horse Repair Shop. So he is unavailable at the moment to post the following.

Kim Chung-Ho of the Center for Free Enterprise cited that OECD statistic as a reason that the Nordic welfare state model won’t work in Korea. In my words, Koreans don’t trust nobody notime. That includes business, government, foreigners, relatives, neighbors, coworkers, you, etc. That’s unlike the Scandinavian countries with populations that reportedly have high levels of trust (at least, in their governments and each other). As I recall, when the Myrdals helped set up the welfare state back in the 1930s, one of the things they cited at that time was the trust that Swedes had in the government and each other (helped by them not having much of a history of conquest and feudalism). Well, I’m not an expert, that’s according to the OECD and other rumors I’ve heard. And supposedly things have remained pretty constant in that regard.

In Kim Chung-Ho’s words:

While welfare proponents often point out it is the southern European economies that are most severely in debt rather than the likes of high-tax, high-spend Sweden, Kim dismisses the suggestion that the Nordic model could be applied here.“There are some countries where people evade routinely evade taxes. South Korea is one of those countries that has a huge underground economy, just like in the Southern European countries. So in some countries, people may continue paying high taxes, but based on Korea’s low ranking in the transparency indexes, it seems that Koreans would evade taxes as people in Southern European countries do rather than the way they continue paying them in Scandinavian countries.”While the [sic] Kim says he can understand and even support the targeting of services at the poor, he is vehemently opposed to “universal programs that include middle-class people, college students, rich people” such as Seoul’s free school lunches program.

Hamel also would want me to remind you that a member of the Swedish parliament will be speaking at a CFE event next week. You are invited.
2 hamel February 27, 2012 at 3:46 pm: nayaCasey, thanks for invoking my name in your stealthy takeover of this blog as a PR vehcle for the CFE!

You sure hear some interesting rumors!
3 hamel February 27, 2012 at 3:50 pm: Okay time for questions:

1) can anyone tell me succinctly what “log income” means?

2) Casey: what do you think could be done in Korea to build people-people and people-institutional trust?
4 nayaCasey February 27, 2012 at 4:30 pm: Thanks, Hamel, #2 & 3, I couldn’t do it without your assistance! I’m not sure which one of us has linked to and referred to CFE more often. Keep up the good work, we are definitely a good team…

I don’t believe anything I read in studies, that’s why I call them rumors.

About building “people-people and people-institutional trust,” I’m fine with just having the people around me trusting me, I have no idea how to build such a thing in Korea or any country in general. I would guess that most people who try would end up slaughtering a bunch of people in the process…
5 hamel February 27, 2012 at 4:37 pm: Thanks, Hamel, #2 & 3, I couldn’t do it without your assistance! I’m not sure which one of us has linked to and referred to CFE more often. Keep up the good work, we are definitely a good team…

Glad to hear it. Pity I’ve fallen off the CFE’s invitation list…

I would guess that most people who try would end up slaughtering a bunch of people in the process…

how do you reconcile that with your previous statement about

…the trust that Swedes had in the government and each other (helped by them not having much of a history of conquest and feudalism).

I don’t believe anything I read in studies, that’s why I call them rumors.

What an extraordinary thing to say.
6 robert neff February 27, 2012 at 4:39 pm: You two need a room?
7 nayaCasey February 27, 2012 at 5:04 pm: Robert #6–actually, as I recall, Hamel’s idea was an island for him to conduct a scientific experiment on libertarians.
8 hamel February 27, 2012 at 5:15 pm: nayaCasey: nice misquote! Or is it a shadow-box? Either way, I want no part in the experiment except as an observer!
9 Brendon Carr February 27, 2012 at 5:23 pm: ParaPundit today links to a study which fingers strong family systems as being strongly correlated with low public trust. Causative? Maybe. But is anyone who’s acquainted with Korea claim surprise to learn of this correlation?
10 john in la February 27, 2012 at 5:50 pm: This report reminds me of survey of students in US and other countries including S Korea.

They surveyed students on how they did in math and they thought they were doing in math.

US students were behind other nations but they they thought they were ok or good.
S Korean students were 1st or 2nd in the ranking in math but they generally thought they were not doing well enough and should do better.

Sorry I can’t find the url but I’m sure someone on this blog heard about it…
11 silver surfer February 27, 2012 at 6:06 pm: Lack of social trust could explain the hagwon industry. Noone accepts the idea of school as a level playing field in which their kids compete. People try to steal an advantage over other families by making their kids study extra, in part because they don’t trust the other families not to. And they watch each other like hawks to see if anyone’s found a better method/school/etc.
12 Arghaeri February 27, 2012 at 6:11 pm: (helped by them not having much of a history of conquest and feudalism).

I’m pretty sure those peoples subjugated under the Swedish Empire might disagree.
13 jkitchstk February 27, 2012 at 6:18 pm: Neff,
You pointed it out in your last post “The Yoke of Korean Women”
If they were satisfied that would mean they didn’t care.
“When Isabella Bird Bishop pointed out to Korean women that Western men did not treat their women in such a manner she was curtly informed by an intelligent Korean woman that “We think that your husbands don’t care for you very much!”
14 Canarias February 27, 2012 at 6:52 pm: Brendon, Francis Fukuyama’s tome “Trust” characterizes Korea as a low-trust society, and equally family-oriented Japan as a high-trust society. That would point toward correlation.
Anyone who has been in Korea long enough to bear witness to the obvious and ubiquitous white lie to avoid hurt feelings, glaring contradictions within thirty-second spans of conversation, and common threats in the form of things not ‘really meant’ has, just like everyone else, devalued the veracity of anything spoken, written, typed or stamped. Navigating such an environment invites anxiety, and anxiety is the sticky syrup in which the minjok swims.
15 jk6411 February 27, 2012 at 10:23 pm: Korea as a low-trust society, and equally family-oriented Japan as a high-trust society.

That’s funny.
I thought Japanese were the people most famous for not expressing their true feelings.
16 Arghaeri February 27, 2012 at 10:30 pm: Why aren’t Koreans satisfied?

Isn ‘t it obvious, they only ranked 31 out of 32.
It just ain’t good enough
17 redwhitedude February 27, 2012 at 11:36 pm: Not suprising considering the political BS track record of the country.
18 DLBarch February 28, 2012 at 12:15 am: I’ve been dealing with Korea in one form or another for about 20 years now, and generally like the place on a personal level. But, when it comes to doing business, of all the countries I’ve had the chance to do business in, I like Korea the least.

And it’s all about lack of trust. Whether it’s my own business, or nightmare stories my clients tell me, the lack of even basic levels of trust…even where there are contracts negotiated and signed, and even with tier-one companies…is a joke. Unless there is an ongoing relationship where the Korean side has a self-interest in maintaining the relationship, I would counsel again any high-stakes contract where good will is expected from the other side, and would budget for some form of arbitration or litigation to enforce any agreements signed.

To this day, I do not consider any contract signed with any Korean counterpart to be worth the paper it’s printed on.

DLB
19 Mellow Fellow February 28, 2012 at 1:58 am: Why aren’t Koreans satisfied?

http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=3073
20 dokdoforever February 28, 2012 at 7:18 am: Here’s my two cents: two main factors in Korea contribute to low trust: 1) the Confucian cultural over- emphasis on family, and 2)legacy of colonial and authoritarian rule. These two factors weakened Korean civil society. Maybe we could add to that the effect of industrialization, pulling people out of ancestal villages to impersonal life in the cities. Confucianism emphasizes the family – and Koreans take this to the extreme. So, there’s one set of rules for dealing with family members and long time personal relations, and another for outsiders. Of course, the Japanese colonial and authoritarian rulers also actively undermined societal trust, by paying citizens to rat on one another. One couldn’t talk politics in a taxi cab, for instance, under Park or Chun. The Japanese bought off the Korean upper class as part of their ruling strategy. The conflict with the North and the resulting harsh security law also undermines trust between Koreans. All of these factors undermine trust between strangers. The comparison with Japan is interesting, because Japan also has a Confucian tradition, and had an authoritarian period in the 30s. The one obvious difference is that outside of the short occuptation period, Japan was not subject to outside rule. To me, Confucianism seems weaker in Japan than in Korea – Japanese don’t abort female fetuses as Koreans and Chinese do, Japanese more readily adopt others into their families. Culture is hard to quantify of course.

Note that a country with a legacy of authoritarian Communist rule, Estonia, is the only country ranked lower than Korea. Many others in Eastern Europe, who are not OECD members, rank down there as well. So, authoritarian rule is a major contributor to low social trust.

Someone asked what Koreans can do to build up trust. Good question. Unfortunately, culture only changes slowly. Ending the conflict with the North would be a positive step. Joining more community religious organizations would probably help, although some of these are also pretty corrupt. Looks as though Korea will need time to build trust.
21 hamel February 28, 2012 at 3:09 pm: #20

These two factors weakened Korean civil society.

Did somebody say Korean civil society? [listens intently for Sperwer's imminent arrival]
22 Liz February 28, 2012 at 3:37 pm: The trust thing is something I wrote about in the dating section of Seoul Sweet Seoul (my e-book).

You don’t see people on the streets striking casual conversation. If you see someone you like, you’d rather die than ask for their number.

It’s likely there’s shyness and introverted personalities involved, but there’s also the igloo mentality of not really reaching out to those outside your clan.

But that’s not unique to Korea. Throwing the country into the OECD pool can be a bit misleading, since Korea’s more similar to countries like Taiwan or ASEAN in that respect.

It’s basically a third world country in a first world get-up.
23 Sperwer February 28, 2012 at 5:08 pm: @ 21

The elephant is now entering the building.

There is no such thing.
24 Jieun K February 28, 2012 at 6:06 pm: Korean civil society?

no such thing

Who knows what the future holds?

A short but undeniable narrative may well be weaved a generation or half a century later with an inevitable influx of right ingredients from without.

To borrow the now-stale catch phrase from U.S. Democrats: Hope ‘n’ Change!
25 Sperwer February 28, 2012 at 8:17 pm: Who knows what the future holds?

Indeed.

A short but undeniable narrative may well be weaved a generation or half a century later with an inevitable influx of right ingredients from without.

There already are Korean scholars attempting to make up that story from whole cloth originating in 16th century Joseon Korea. Their efforts are sadly risible; but ironically it is, imo, only if the idea of civil society is generated from within Korea’s own traditions, such as they are, perhaps with some additional leavening from the outside (as in the case of the original yeast introduced around the turn of the 20th century), that it will take genuine root here. But that will take some real effort, not the grotesquely premature celebrations of the advent of korean civil society to which we have been treated for the past ten+ years.
26 Liz February 28, 2012 at 8:56 pm: On second thought, let Korea be. Holding the country up to Western ideals of civic-mindedness and other outcomes of civil society may not work for Koreans, for cultural and and reasons of habit.

I once tried to help a blind man in a Seoul subway find his way up a case of stairs, but after getting him on his way, he hurried along without a word of acknowledgement or a thank you.

I never thought he was being rude though. By Western standards, maybe. I think he was ashamed of his disability and felt he lost face every time someone tried to help him. And because Koreans pity him, they would never expect an expression of gratitude in return.

And that’s just Korea. It’s different.
27 Sperwer February 28, 2012 at 9:10 pm: @26

The problem is Korea’s own schizophrenia; it doesn’t seem to be able to decide to which universalizing ethic it wants to subscribe: the ( western) one that privileges individual rights (and a conception of dignity based thereon) or the (confucian one) that priviliges a hierarchical order of social relationships. The Korean dilemma is that a lot, imo most, want the former, but have a hard time letting go of the latter because of its inertial historical force – and there has been no convincing internal transformation of the confucian tradition that makes it sufficiently accomodating of individualism to resolve the tension.
28 Jieun K February 29, 2012 at 12:35 am: ironically it is, imo, only if the idea of civil society is generated from within … that it will take genuine root here.

Absolutely.

that will take some real effort

And that’s putting it mildly.

Civil society, I think, entails “leveling the playing field” which is incompatible with the Korean Ancien Régime (so to speak) founded on a hierarchical model.

If anything, the real effort will require a mass critical enough from ordinary citizens to level the field before a seed of civil society can be germinated.
29 dokdoforever February 29, 2012 at 3:25 am: Having a hierarchically ordered Confucian society is not necessarily bad for building civil society. Confucianism emphasizes harmonious personal relations after all. Some argue that those ties were what allowed Chinese dynasties to rule such vast territory with tiny state bureaucracies. Japan (and I bet Taiwan too) is Confucian and has higher trust. I’m thinking the colonial/authoritarian legacy is probably a more important factor.
30 H.Schmidt February 29, 2012 at 10:02 pm: Actually Koreans don’t abort female fetuses these days. The sex ratio is getting more balanced and it has little to do with Confucian traditions. China is probably the least Confucian influenced from what I’ve read and aborting female fetuses in China is probably the highest rate in the world.

Also trust naturally decreases in competitive nations. Korea is the most competitive nation in East Asia because it has the highest population density and the influence of education is probably the greatest.

Korea still has to develop more legislation to give women more respect. More female babies are necessary for Korea to become an advanced nation.
31 nayaCasey February 29, 2012 at 11:09 pm: Speaking of crime in Korea…

Subway fare evaders face crackdown from March

“Not only fare evaders but also those using improper discount passes are subject to the crackdown, such as an adult using discount travel cards for children, ineligible people using complimentary passes for the elderly, or able-bodied people using a free pass for the disabled,” a city official said.

Last year, the subway operators caught 17,331 passengers travelling illegally on lines 1-9, collecting 484 million won in fines. Among them, 73.5 percent were fare dodgers, 16.6 percent wrongly used passes for the elderly or disabled and 9.9 percent were adults using children’s passes.