[KS] KSR 2002-04: _Measured Excess: Status, Gender and Consumer Nationalism in South Korea_, by Laura C. Nelson

[Stephen Epstein]

_Measured Excess: Status, Gender and Consumer Nationalism in South Korea_,
by Laura C. Nelson.  New York: Columbia University Press.  2000.  224 pp.
ISBN: 0-2311-1617-9,  $18.50 (paper).

Reviewed by Dennis Hart
Kent State University


_Measured Excess_ is one of a recent group of books aimed at
explaining, at least in part, the cultural transformations and
accommodations flowing from industrialization in South Korea. Her work
ranges from a very careful analysis of consumption in everyday Korean life
to a brief overview of the larger economic and geo-political issues that
prompted Korea's capitalist growth. By viewing consumption as an economic,
social and cultural process that binds people, she examines "how South
Koreans' sense of national identity motivated much of the hard work of
development beginning in the 1960s and continuing through the early 1990s
and how the intersections between international economic processes, the
flow of time, and the mundane experience of life shape and strain the sense
of national mission" (2). Nelson also explains that the book is an "attempt
to capture a slice of this transformation, and its ambivalent effects, by
focusing on one of the most direct and material connections people in one
place make with those elsewhere: consumption" (viii).

The book has six chapters, the first five of which are followed by
vignettes that run two to three pages each. Overall the book is very well
written and a reader can move through the many details and ideas easily.
Nelson's descriptions of modern Seoul are particularly well done, rich in
detail, and accompanied by informative insights. As a general examination
of modern urban life, this is an excellent work. The vignettes provide
anecdotal evidence relevant to the theme and allow for a deeper glimpse at
how everyday life is lived in Korea today. Sprinkled throughout this volume
are tables and graphs of such varied aspects of modern life as Seoul's
population, car ownership, driver licenses, ownership rates of home
appliances, household budgets, expenditures on food and the like. There is
also a small map of Seoul as well as personal sketches of the city.

First and foremost, the choice for consumption as a device to grasp modern
Korean life, society, identity and gender is an excellent one. Clearly, the
act of consumption forms the nexus between modern life as it is lived by
South Koreans and the larger social and economic processes that have given
rise to the phenomenon of consumption taken in its entirety.  Nelson joins
those others who are helping to open a new avenue of inquiry into modern
South Korea and avoids the limitations rooted in much of the literature on
"the economic miracle," democratization, or "modern Korea as an extension
of the past."

Next, when dealing with everyday life, Nelson argues, among other points,
that consumption is a modern and varied discourse that reifies "social
coherence and homogeneity" (6), "identification with the nation" (25),
pride (ix), status, class, gender, and is also "a key source" for
expression and communication (24-25). The evidence includes accounts from
the mass media, personal observations, interviews, and statistical data.
Using her training as an anthropologist, she demonstrates how an ideology
of consumption has become woven into the very fabric of life in such
apparently mundane activities as shopping in western-style convenience
stores, buying stationary items, selecting clothing and owning a car.   As
such, Koreans become agents who use the realm of consumption as a site for
creating identity, both personal and national, in a capitalist society.

For example, in chapter five, "Endangering the Nation: Consuming the
Future," she notes how consumption is gendered and is used differently by
various groups. Specifically, for middle class housewives, consumption is
shown at one level as a source of status or prestige. However, Nelson
pushes her analysis and notes how acts of consumption also help housewives
draw a moral distinction between responsible behavior and personal
indulgence. In the case of the former, they act as "managers" of the family
home and engage in consumption necessary to maintain the modern family.
Conversely, in the latter case, public discourse promotes the "imagined
inability of women, as a class, to restrain their desires" which eventually
leads to social disharmony (144).

While this is a book rich in detail concerning contemporary life, some
deeper points on the origins of Korea's consumer culture and nationalism
are either overlooked or understudied.  Nelson looks at the "frameworks
within which people define themselves" (29). However, her arguments on the
"intersections" between the larger social, economic, and historical
narratives and modern daily life are unpersuasive since she does not always
draw a clear and compelling picture of larger structural forces or their
connection to the agency exhibited by people in their immediate daily
activities. For example, the book does not present detailed explanation of
the larger systemic sources and reasons for why consumption is so central
to modern life. Do all nations who industrialize necessarily make
consumption a central "cultural connection" among people? Or is Korea
simply a rare case? Why have Koreans turned so strongly towards consumption
and not other rituals and processes?

Her book focuses heavily upon consumption as a form of national identity.
Korean purchases of domestically produced items on one hand and conspicuous
consumption as a source of national disunity on the other are two opposing
manifestations of this phenomenon. These are good points that could have
been explored more in detail. She also might have provided the reader with
a deeper analysis of how Korean national identity is linked to issues on
history, reunification, national growth, and class:  first, little
discussion is offered of how these are all logically linked; secondly,
Nelson could have addressed more carefully the question of how the process
of nationalism is being redefined in the face of its conflict with
"traditional Korea."

As one example, she posits that through modern consumption Koreans assert
their identity as Koreans. Perhaps, but she leaves unanswered the obvious
questions of how are we to define "Korean-ness"? And, how can we resolve
the obvious paradox of Koreans defining themselves as Korean by capitalist
consumption when capitalist consumption is a "modern process" that
invalidates, erodes and replaces traditional, pre-capitalist Korean ways of
life and identity?

Not withstanding these omissions, this is certainly a very good book that
is well worth reading by scholars and students interested in modern Korea.
As a teacher, I would say that the book's theoretical constraints would
limit its value at the graduate level. However, since it is well written,
accessible, and rich in descriptions it would work very well as a
supplementary text in an undergraduate class on either modern Korea or
modern culture.



Citation:
Hart, Dennis 2002
_Measured Excess: Status, Gender and Consumer Nationalism in South Korea_,
by Laura C. Nelson (2000)
Korean Studies Review_ 2002, no. 4
Electronic file: http://www.koreaweb.ws/ks/ksr/ksr02-04.htm