Intriguing generational behaviour

 

Today's Straits Times ran an article about South Koreans being the world's top spender on personal luxury goods in 2022 (according to a Morgan Stanley study). Other than a real love for them the article also mentions flexing and the need to buy luxury goods just to be accepted and to fit into a social circle. It quoted an example of a mother having to change into a luxury car because the security guard at the school her child was attending didn't think she was a parent in her ordinary car and barred her from entering. There is also a well known Korean idiom that goes  "When my cousin buys land I get a stomachache". The envy habit is apparently quite prevalent in South Korea. 

I have watched the K drama "Mr. Sunshine" a historical romance set in late 19th century and early 1900s when Koreans were fighting for independence from Japan. A few facts I learnt from this drama help me understand a bit about Korean behaviour.

First of all I didn't know there was slavery and rigid class distinction in ancient Korea. The drama portrayed how impossible it is for cross marriages between social classes. Though deeply in love, the female protagonist  of noble descent was totally devastated when she found out her lover , a high achieving US military officer was born a Korean slave boy. Even her very principled and liberal grandfather told her he could not bear the sorrow and disgrace to the family if she would to marry a person of low birth. 

In another sub-plot the feared leader of a gang would still be incensed when reminded that his father was a butcher, deemed a dirty profession. Similarly a minister of non aristocratic origin would be thrown into a rage when disdained and ridiculed by colleagues of noble origin. Both had an in built sense of inferiority.

Such deep seated discrimination against people born of lower social class probably explains the bullying behaviour of chaebol families (if what contemporary K drama portrays is true). It also helps me appreciate more the movie "Parasite" which won the Oscar for best picture in its depiction of social inequality in South Korea.

Now it makes sense to me that academic achievement is the best chance for the next generation to climb the social ladder, hence the fierce competitive education environment in Korea. 

Coming back to the love for luxury goods, the Morgan Stanley analysts explained that the demand for luxury goods is driven by "increase in purchasing power as well as a desire to outwardly exhibit social standing".

Such obsession with class is intriguing. Maybe it is some form of generic memory passed down from generations as part of a collective consciousness.