Welcoming Difference or Reinforcing the Status Quo? The Influence of Multicultural Television Viewing on Multicultural and Gender Attitudes in South Korea

ABSTRACT

Drawing on the nascent literature on multiculturalism in Korea, this study explores the influence of viewing South Korean multicultural television content on two attitudinal measures: support for multiculturalism and opposition to sexism. Conducting a survey of South Korean citizens (N = 500) revealed that although heavier viewing of multicultural television content has no significant effect on support for multiculturalism, it does significantly correlate with greater acceptance of sexism. Our quantitative results lend support to the findings of recent qualitative studies that have identified essentialist and sexist tendencies in South Korean multicultural television portrayal of immigrants. Implications of the findings are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• South Korea
• multiculturalism
• sexism
• gender
• survey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Academy of Korean Studies [AKS-2014-OLU-2250003].

Notes on contributors

Hyun Tae Kim

Hyun Tae (Calvin) Kim (Ph.D., 2020, University of Southern California) conducts market research for Hanwha Life Insurance, Seoul, Korea. His research interests include strategic communication, public diplomacy, and global communication, based on both quantitative and qualitative research methods. He is particularly interested in the impact of messages on enhancing perceptions of efficacy with respect to organizational, social, political, and cultural change.

Nathaniel Ming Curran

Nathaniel Ming Curran (M.A., University of California, Berkeley) is a doctoral candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California. His research on various aspects of contemporary Korea has been published in a wide variety of journals and is supported by the 2020 Korean Studies Grant Program of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2020-R-21).

Lichen Zhen

Lichen Zhen (M.A., University of Texas, Austin) is a doctoral student at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California. Her primary research interests are global media industries, organizational communication, and social networks.