Colloquium in October 2025
Han Il Chang (Kookmin University)
This study develops a theory that the effect of economic hardship on anti-democratic attitudes—channeled through feelings of gender deprivation—varies across gender and generations.
According to the theory, as democracy advances gender equality, it increases young women’s entry to the labor market and young men are denied the labor market privileges that middle-aged men enjoyed in their younger years, leading the young men to feel that their gender group is being institutionally discriminated against.
Importantly, this sense of gender deprivation may not be felt equally by all young men, such that the less economic resource for current and future life, the more important survival in the labor market and, thereby, the greater feelings of gender deprivation.
Young men with such feelings find a conservative party glorifying past-authoritarian regimes and figures more attractive and supportable, which reduces their rejection of anti-democratic and unconstitutional actions and makes them perceive support for such actions as patriotic.
Several hypotheses derived from the theory are tested using online survey data collected in South Korea between April 22 and 27, 2025 and analysis reveals that the hypotheses are consistent with the data.
