Analysis Of The Role Of The Middle Class In South Korea, The Political Transition Process

Set in the Confucian culture background, The South Korean Middle Classes were the product of the market economy leading by the authority government. They presented a very different characteristic with the US and the European middle classes. They took part in the state political life broadly and thus played a very important role in the course of South Korean political transition and democratization. In Korea, middle classes promoted the separation between the state and the society, realized the public power redistribution and the formation of the civil society by pushing the transition of the political culture and improving the political communication level. As well the civil society is exactly the basis and power to push the authority government collapse and realize the democracy. Chapter one is the detailed introduction to the Korean political history after the World War II and the middle classes'participation in the democratized incidents. Chapter two gives a full analysis to the concept of the middle classes, as well as the characteristics and the growing history of the Korean middle classes. Chapter three is the core of the paper, which makes a full analysis on middle classes'political function by using the theory of Civil Society, Political Culture and Political Communication. Chapter four tries to clarify the reason for the variety of the Korean middle classes'political role and attitude. The conclusion advances the regret and study direction in the future.