2012 Naggomsu-bikini Event’ as a Social Performance

This paper aims to approach ‘2012 Naggomsu-bikini event’ not from an existing perspective  of social movement but as a social performance proposed by Jeffrey C. Alexander.  When a problematic situation occurs, members of society try to resolve it through a social performance. Analytically, a social performance consists of systems of collective representation (background symbols and foreground script), actors, observers/audience, means of symbolic production, mise-en-scène, and social power. This paper demonstrates how the fusion and defusion of these components of social performance characterize the ‘2012 Naggomsu-bikini event’. The data demonstrates that the foreground scripts for ‘2012 Naggomsu-bikini event’ were constructed from Korean traditional cultural structures and ‘2012 Naggomsu-bikini event’ as a social performance evolved through five stages along with the fusion and de-fusion of all components of social performance. The methodological merit of this paper lies in the fact that it shows how cultural structures guide social actions in concrete historical events instead of remaining in the textual analysis of cultural structures.