dagNotes: Upon students writing about the Korean "Kangaroo Tribe" youth culture.
Journalism about Korea I confront with student writing about adolescence and employment illustrates a vulgar, sometimes grotesque, view of class and youth culture, even Korean being in general. The authoritarian culture believes Korean college students and other older adolescents are lazy and incapable of hard work because they live at home. (A covert sexist discourse resides within this academic complaint: mothers are placed at the source of a social problem that is actually caused by patriarchal and Confucian culture, which is highly masculinist.)
Practically, graduating students only want to work for big corporations. They'll receive more money and more status, which is very important here. It's not uncommon for society to insist young adults work to gain life experience, but it's the reason for doing so that serves a dual disciplinary purpose: young adults should learn the value of hard work; dwelling for a time, like a tourist, in "the bottom" of society will create more responsible and self-sufficient young adults. The employing class receives a benefit with this training, as well: young employees learn to accept poor conditions in entry-level positions for fear of being sent down, so to speak, to lower status jobs in smaller businesses, or, worse, working for an hourly wage. The minimum wage in Korea is incredibly low--just over 5,000won/hr next year--and many wage earners work off the books for less than minimum. This general opinion illustrates an oppressive determinism in economic class here. "The bottom"--the poor working class--becomes necessary and its qualities naturalized. Poor workers are often thought to deserve poverty; poor workers aren't thought to be worth more. I have had Korean co-teachers ask, "What else can they do?" So, the Kangaroo Tribe concept is a means to worry about young adults, blame mothers, and offer cover for corrupt authoritarian culture and its oppressive construction of worker, employment, class, and cooperation.
This serves the crooked elite here and explains why so many people continue to support reactionary authoritarian politicians and bosses. I think it helps me understand why my students say the things they do about poor immigrants, laborers, and working class people in general. I don't like it. I insist they critically think about their class lessons. They're all capable of it. They're good kids. I respect them. I don't think what i went through when i was their age is much different. I find it difficult to teach about economic and social class here because when I use examples from my experience, the students quickly insist "that's not Korea". So, I work to get them to learn to communicate their minds and experiences without considering my authority. Pedagogically speaking, I'm learning a lot about what "student-directed" learning really is all about. And sure as shit I've learned we're all alienated.
Anyway, this has got me thinking. A student is writing about "kangaroo tribe" Koreans, which was a popular concept ten years ago used to describe young adults living under their mothers' care. I guess it's still being used here. I can understand why. A majority of young adults live with their families well into their later twenties. (Kangaroo Tribe reminds me of the pejorative, mammoni, used for single men living at home in Italy. And as with Kangaroo Tribe, it's a sexist way to implicate mothers in problems with their children. Both terms exonerate fathers.) I found an old quote from a Korean economics professor. Kim Dong-won, a professor at Korea University, claims “Generally, Korean young people lack professionalism to achieve something through hard work. For them, it might be best to let them experience the bottom of society through part-time work from university.” This is from 2004, maybe earlier, yet it's still being paraphrased and recycled ten years later. It's common for this to happen with journalism about Korean culture, especially in English language. It's a shame because it shapes cultural discourse both in and outside Korea. A claim becomes a stereotype. My students are using this as if it's a key to every problem here. Getting them to unpack this stuff is difficult. "But an economist at Korea University said so" is not uncommon.
You can search for "kangaroo tribe" and also "kangaroo shoppers" and find a lot...