In pursuit of status: the making of South Korea's "new" urban middle class

In this ethnography of the everyday life of contemporary Korea, Denise Lett argues that South Korea's contemporary urban middle class not only exhibits upper-class characteristics but also that this reflects a culturally inherited disposition of Koreans to seek high status. This has combined with a favourable political and economic climate that has made it possible for many to achieve it. Lett shows how the Confucian legacy - especially the yangban tradition - has been a driving force behind the development of South Korea's new middle class and the country's rapid emergence as a global economic player. Lett shows that Koreans have adopted traditional ways of asserting high status to modern life, and analyzes strategies for claiming high status in terms of occupation, family, lifestyle, education, and marriage.