Understanding Stratification in a Global Perspective: The Case of South Koreans

This study distinguishes three perspectives in stratification research based on an unit of analysis. The first is a within-country perspective which has dominated traditional stratification research. It uses nation-states as the unit of analysis with an assumption that stratification takes place exclusively within nations. Modernization school, with this perspective, argues that achieved human capitals play a central role in social selection processes in industrial societies. The second is a between-country perspective that has usually been taken by development scholars. It focuses on stratifiation among countries. As the focuses lie on national (not individual) level comparisons, there is a lack of accounts on how between-country inequality shapes stratification and inequality at an individual level. The last is a global stratification perspective. This perspective synthesizes the both within- and between-country stratification concepts in a sense that it perceives stratification as individual-level processes taking place globally. Which social mobility strategies are more effective can be different depending on which perspective or unit of analysis is used. For example, emigration to another country is hardly discussed in the within-country frame, but it draws attention as an important way for social mobility in the global perspective. This study aims 1) to introduce the global stratification perspective, 2) to apply it for understanding stratification among South Koreans (including Korean diasporas), and 3) to see how it looks different from the accounts of the within-nation perspective. To practice the global approach, I situates income earnings of South Koreans within a broader pattern of global income hierarchy, and reassesses the relative weight of categorical attributes (gender, family background, country of residence, etc.) with achieved characteristics (education, skill, etc.) based on their global income standing. My hypothesis is that, from the global perspective, inequality among South Koreans remains shaped by categorical characteristics (country of residence, particularly) and the role of achievements far more modest than usually assumed.