Social Empathy and the Korean Wave: Building Transnational Social Empathy through Fandom

Social empathy is a concept that has recently gained attention for its role in alleviating social conflict, not only within a single society but also among different societies. By fostering the understanding of situations and problems that other groups of people face, social empathy can lead to the development of policies and practices that address social conflict in ways that realize and promote social justice. Social empathy is an especially important resource in the contemporary world where we are witnessing many social groups showing anger, hatred, and even violence against other social groups. The Korean Wave refers to the global spread of Korean cultural products, predominately K-pop and Korean dramas. One key factor behind the success of the Korean Wave is its fandom, which consists not only of consumers but also active participants who contribute to the promotion and dissemination of the Korean pop culture. In this sense, they function both as consumers and producers of the Korean Wave content. These fans are more likely to open to other cultures, transcending their ethnic-based affiliations, which leads them to have open- mind to the people of different countries.

An example of this can be seen in the social empathy demonstrated by the Japanese youth toward Koreans despite a long history of political conflict between the two countries. This paper explores the potential for social empathy to be fostered through the fandom of the Korean Wave, supported by the data from in-depth interviews with Japanese youth.