Description

The future of independent critical publishing is at risk. To begin with political economy: book, newspaper, television, radio and film ownership is everywhere concentrated in the hands of a small number of mega-corporations. Two other intertwined phenomena herald the decline, and perhaps ultimately the disappearance of the newspaper, the journal, and the book, certainly as we know them. First is the fact that the new technologies that gave rise to the internet and multiple electronic publications and new forms of communication such as blogs and social communication networks, have transformed both the economics of publishing and the nature, quantity and quality of readership. Notable trends include the radical decline in newspaper, magazine and journal readership and subscribers, and the shift from print to predominantly on-line publication and reading. This, together with declining advertising revenue for print journals and magazines, is one of many harbingers of the permanent decline of print publication. More important, the readership of journals is shifting to online readership, while personal paid subscriptions plummet. While some lament the imminent demise of print publication, and perhaps even the decline in literacy, it is worth noting that electronic publication offers new opportunities that print cannot match. For example, electronic publishing permits far greater versatility in the use of images and sound, including color, music, voice, and moving images, as well as interactive texts and comment functions that have the potential to redefine the relationship between author and text and to expand the scope of media. Third, over the last decade, coinciding with the centralization of ownership and control of print newspapers and magazines, there has been a proliferation of electronic sources, including some notable for their independent and critical spirit across the political, social and cultural spectrum. Yet these new initiatives face formidable problems in competing with centralized corporate media in a David and Goliath battle. We consider these themes with particular respect to the question: how do we gain command of developments historical and contemporary in the Asia-Pacific in the new millennium?

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Mark Selden is a Senior Research Associate in the East Asia Program at Cornell University, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and History at Binghamton University, and a Coordinator of The Asia-Pacific Journal at http://www.japanfocus.org which provides in-depth critical analysis of the forces shaping the Asia-Pacific and the world. A specialist on the modern and contemporary geopolitics and political economy of the Asia Pacific, his books include China in Revolution: The Yenan Way Revisited, Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance, Chinese Village: Socialist State, War and State Terrorism: The United States, Japan, and the Asia-Pacific in the Long Twentieth Century, Censoring History: Citizenship and Memory in Japan, China and the United States, China, East Asia and the Global Economy, The Resurgence of East Asia: 500, 150 and 50 Year Perspectives. He is the editor of book series at Rowman & Littlefield, Routledge, and M.E. Sharpe publishers.

Description

A Presentation on Demographic Changes, Migration, and Social Policy Reforms in South Korea

Population ageing and changes in the economy in South Korea raises a variety of social policy issues, including pension and healthcare, social care, labor migration, and education reforms to prepare young people for the new economy. Three prominent academics from South Korea will discuss the social and economic changes and innovations and reforms in social, immigration, and education policies in that country.

10:00 Welcoming Remarks by Professor Andre Schmid, Director, Centre for the Korea Study

10:10 Introduction by Professor Ito Peng, Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts and Science

10:20 Workshop Presentations

Chair: Professor Ito Peng

Kyung Hee Kim (Chung Ang University)
“Work-Family Harmonization and Childcare Policy Reform in South Korea”

Hyekyung Lee ( Pai Chai University)
“Marriage Migration and Immigration Policy Reform in South Korea”

Soomyung Jang (Korean National University for Education)
“5.31 University Expansion Policy and Its Implications on Labor Market and Fertility in the case of Korea”

11:35 Q&A

11:55 Conclusion

Description

South Korea has achieved remarkable economic growth in the late 20th century. The economic growth was made possible by Korea’s techno-scientific growth regime. Under this techno-scientific growth regime, sciences and technologies are expected to serve only as a means of economic growth. Technocratic policymaking not allowing any meaningful public participation is a distinguishing feature of this growth regime. In this sense the techno-scientific growth regime can be characterized by its economism and elitism.
This techno-scientific growth regime did not receive any serious challenges from civil society under the military government. Military-political regime, not techno-scientific growth regime, was the main target. However, with the political democratization of the early 1990s, various social movement agendas to democratize economy and society began to appear, including democratization of science and technology. The purpose of this talk is to introduce the democratization movements in Korean science and technology and then to evaluate their contributions and limitations.

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Young Hee Lee is Professor in the Department of Sociology at The Catholic University of Korea. Professor Lee is currently a Visiting Scholar at UC San Diego, U.S. He received his PhD in Sociology from Yonsei University in 1994. His research interests include Science, Technology and Society (STS), technology and work, and public participation in techno-scientific and environmental decision making. He has been actively involved in the “democratization of science and technology” movement in Korea since 1997, when he founded the Centre for Democracy in Science and Technology with his colleagues, a civil organization focusing on socio-political issues around science and technology policy. His books include Fordism and Post-Fordism: Hyundai, Toyota and Volvo (1994), Towards a Reflexive Sociology of Science and Technology (2000), Public Participation in Science, Technology and Environment (2002).