Measured Excess: Status, Gender, and Consumer Nationalism in South Korea

by Laura C. Nelson

Book Overview

This insightful analysis of the ways in which South Korean economic development strategies have reshaped the country's national identity gives specific attention to the manner in which women, as the primary agents of consumption, have been affected by this transformation. Past scholarship on the culture of nationalism has largely focused on the ways in which institutions utilize memory and "history" to construct national identity. In a provocative...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231116179
• ISBN13: 9780231116176
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Thought provoking study of consumerism

This very entertaining illuminated a developing country's discovery of consumerism. I enjoyed not ony the insight into Korean life, but the way the book put this bahavior in a broader context.

Fresh and Intelligent

Ms. Nelson's keen eye and sensitive writing create a vivid picture of how tensions among tradition, nationalism, rapid economic development and the globalization of markets play out in the everyday life of Koreans. Her book got me thinking in new ways about shopping and the collective unconscious, both in Korea and in my own culture. I came away with a better understanding not only of Korea, but also of how anthropology is done (at least by one talented anthropologist) in a postmodern world.