The Korean Economic Developmental Path ― Confucian Tradition, Affective Network

This book traces back the origins of Korean development from the cultural and moral dimension, and argues that the source of weakened autonomy and capacity of the state after the 1997 crisis also should be traced from the loss of fundamental ethos. It elucidates the positive effect of cultural inheritance that has been most blamed in the earlier studies as hampering economic growth and democratization of Korean society: Confucianism, affective networks, and state intervention. As such institutional characteristics have undeniably formed the historical path of Korean development, the future of Korean development cannot also be alienated from this path.

Seok-Choon Lew is a professor of sociology and the director of Syngman Rhee Institute at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. He has earned his PhD in sociology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA, in 1986. His areas of expertise are sociology of development, economic sociology, and Southeast Asian studies. He has served on editorial boards of Korean Sociological Review (in Korean) and Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (in Korean). He has been a visiting scholar at Oxford University (1993), Doshisha University in Kyoto (1999), University of the Philippines (2002), Australian National University (2009), and University of California, San Diego (2009). Recently, he has written extensively on 'affective networks' and 'developmental states' in East Asia. Please visit http://sclew.yonsei.ac.kr for more information on his publications and career.