Neo-Liberal Economic Reform, Social Change, and Inequality in the Post-Crisis Period in South Korea

Abstract

Abstract This paper attempts to explore the dynamics of inequality in the post-financial crisis period, which has been reshaping the lifeworld in South Korea. The neo-liberal economic reform in the post-crisis period has drastically affected income distribution, generating working poor and large marginalized social groups. The sharp rise of income inequality has been conducive to an unprecedented social crisis associated with the lowest birth rate and the highest poverty rate of the elderly in the world. Under the poor South Korean welfare system, the increase in precarious employment and rising inequality and poverty have undermined the social fabric, generating a drastic increase in suicide, family dissolution, and social distrust.