Episode 1: The Stable and Rigid Social Hierarchy in South Korea
- misaengasia
- Sep 23, 2018
- 3 min read
“Misaeng: Incomplete Life” was published and broadcasted in 2014, and still is recognized as one of the most successful K-Dramas of all time. This educational drama tells people a story about how a young person with no skills and work experiences, reacts and handles the working environment when he gets hired as an intern by someone’s recommendation by comparing the environment with a board game Baduk or Go in translation. It is frequent that people talk about how serious the social class is in South Korea. Indeed, this typical tradition was presented clearly at the beginning of the drama, Misaeng, since it is pervasive that workplace hierarchy occurs based on the gender and education status of employees (Lee,J.,2004).
The protagonist, Jang Geu-Rae, does not have any formal work experience before he was hired as an intern. Moreover, unlike other interns, Geu-Rae has only taken the General Education Development and did not attend university even though he is 26 years-old. Most importantly, when he is told that he entered the company ten days after the other interns have been hired, the hierarchy has already occurred. And as a result, he looks like an outcast who cannot get respects from anyone in this company, even by his direct boss, Oh Sang-Shik. Being considered as a country with uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, and restraint, there is no doubt Korea has the workplace that is full of top-down organizational culture and even bullying behaviours (Yoo, & Lee, 2018).
As we all know, along with many other countries in Asia, bowing is a very common and traditional manner in South Korea. It is seen as a mandatory action for people to bow to the elderly or anyone who is older than them, and anyone who has a higher social status. To show full of respects, normally 90 degrees of bow is required. Another movement that shows your manner is handshaking. When shaking hands with people with higher levels, both hands should be used: the right-hand shakes the other person’s hand, while the left-hand supports the right-hand. Working as a new intern, Jang Geu-Rae shows great manners to anyone higher than him including the colleagues and his bosses.
Here is an interesting phenomenon: In this entire 90 minutes of an episode, only one female employee that has been shown up; and the other workers, especially the higher-level managers are all male. Is it just a coincidence? It is actually very common in Korea’s working environment. Ahn Young-Yi, the only starring main actress in this drama, shows great abilities of expertise during work. She can speak multiple languages such as English and Russian, and handles business logically and clearly. However, she is still not the popular one among the interns. The main reason for this is because of the gender. In fact, Korea has the lowest rate of participation in women’s labor force and women with college degrees (J, Lee. 2004). Therefore, the hierarchy does not exist between ages but also with genders.
As a result, the social hierarchy does not only exist between ages but also between genders in South Korea. Today, most of Koreans obey the hierarchy and are used to it. Although this traditional etiquette seems a little bit contradictory to contemporary culture, Korea is still considered as “the land of courtesy" in Asia.
Written By: Yuxin Yang
Here are some discussion questions..
1. If this rigid social hierarchy contributes to the making of modern country, or does it hinder it?
2. How would you think about the disparity of proportion between male and female in labour in South Korea?
3. If you were Ahn Young-Yi, would you like to give a hand to Jang Geu-Rae on his first day? Why or why not. (only if you have already watched the first episode).
Bibliography:
1. Lee, J.,(2004). Taking Gender Seriously: Feminization of Nonstandard Work in Korea and Japan, Asian Journal of Women's Studies, 10:1, 25-48,
This article shows the literally how serious situation of workplace to Korean women. With low paid and less respect, Korean women labour are less competitive than men obviously.
2. Min, J., Park, S. , Kim, S. and Min, K. (2014), Workplace injustice and self‐reported disease and absenteeism in South Korea. Am. J. Ind. Med., 57: 87-96.
This journal presents the theme that the hierarchy truly exists in Korean workplace, especially in gender and educational level. Using this journal helps to explain how this drama reflects the workplace in Korean.
3. Yoo, G., & Lee, S. (2018). It Doesn’t end there: Workplace bullying, work-to-family conflict, and employee well-being in Korea. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(7), 1548.
This article illustrates the top-down model in Korean workplace could even lead to discrimination and bullying. Although bullying is not the theme of this episode, it reflects how rigid the social hierarchy is in Korea.
1. Does this rigid societal hierarchy contributes to the development of this modern country, or it is just a barrier?
I believe that a rigid societal hierarchy can help the development of a country, but only to a certain extent. In the early developmental stages of a country’s development, or in South Korea’s case, a redevelopment, it is beneficial to have stiff competition to stimulate the workings of the economy. The competition will encourage people to work harder, which would then help the companies develop faster. However, once a country has been developed, to the extent that South Korea has, then the rigid societal hierarchy will actually hinder further development. The stiffness of the hierarchy will discourage the youth, as…
1. In South Korea, the social hierarchy exists not only in workplace settings but also among young students in their early years of school. Although it can cause the issues of injustice and discrimination among co-workers and colleagues, it definitely contributes to the making of Korea’s modern culture and society. In a country where people are constantly exposed to a highly competitive environment, many are motivated to work harder to achieve their goals and to gain higher levels of education and status. It also contributes to people’s good manners and strict politeness to others.
2. As presented in the drama, Korea has disparity of proportion between male and female in labour settings. This is due to employers having assumption that…
1. If this rigid social hierarchy contributes to the making of modern country, or does it hinder it?
As we have learned on the first day of the class, hierarchy is one of the biggest issues in Korean society. First, what is hierarchy? Hierarchy stands for classification of people in one society. As a Korean and a person who have been involved in a rigid social hierarchy in Korea, I would say it contributes to the making of today's Korea. As we can see in the drama "Misaeng," although it can be seen in many different perspectives, I think because of hierarchy, new employees can learn and develop their experiences quickly, and most importantly, they would likely work quicker with higher acc…
1. The social hierarchy is unavoidably observed in many social settings in South Korea, and it probably has been culturally transmitted over generations. The rigidity of the hierarchy itself can seem, and is, stifling to many individuals but I wouldn’t say it necessarily “hinders” South Korea as a country. Rather, it is something that brings about people’s politeness and courtesy towards others, which can consequently be beneficial in a business setting, for example. Perhaps, what is more important is to what extent this hierarchal culture is practiced. If it becomes something that belittles those who are in the lower class of the hierarchy, then obviously, it can be a factor that creates the social division within the contemporary society.
2.…
1, This type of prejudice towards people with lower levels of education does constitute as a form of discrimination. However, it could be a factor that contributes to South Korea’s success due to people having an increased pressure to attain higher levels of education at prestigious schools. In the long run, the societal pressures may cause an overemphasis in academic pursuits, reducing the possibility for the youth to have a balanced development in terms of academic and non-academic aspects.
2, If Misaeng is an accurate representation of the typical South Korean office environment, the male employees seem to outnumber female employees. In later episodes, the drama explains that this could be due to the fact that females are less desirabl…