Korean Spiritual and Material Values

Korea has one of the most dynamic and diverse religious cultures of any nation on earth. Koreans
are highly religious, yet no single religious community enjoys dominance. Buddhists share the Korean
religious landscape with both Protestant and Catholic Christians as well as with shamans, Confucians,
and practitioners of numerous new religions. As a result, Korea is a fruitful site for the exploration of the
various manifestations of spirituality in the modern world. At the same time, however, the complexity of
the country’s religious topography can overwhelm the novice explorer.

Emphasizing the attitudes and aspirations of the Korean people rather than ideology, Don Baker
has written an accessible aid to navigating the highways and byways of Korean spirituality. He adopts a
broad approach that distinguishes the different roles that folk religion, Buddhism, Confucianism,
Christianity, and indigenous new religions have played in Korea in the past and continue to play in the
present while identifying commonalities behind that diversity to illuminate the distinctive nature of
spirituality on the Korean peninsula.

In South Korea, objects define identity. This is the result of rapid economic growth that initially
spawned a nouveau-riche culture of ostentatiously displaying wealth.

The bottom line is that South Korea is a capitalist society, consumerist in nature. But even among
fellow capitalist countries, South Korea’s cultures of consumerism and materialism are striking, to the
extent that Pope Francis warned young South Koreans of the dangers of materialism on a visit in 2014.

Perhaps because of its relatively recent and rapid economic growth, South Korea has become
known for its nouveau-riche culture: Wealth is often flaunted in tasteless ways, including, by showing off
big brand names.

While ostentatious displays of wealth have petered out in recent years (they are at least frowned
upon), sales of luxury goods have constantly increased in South Korea, unlike in Japan, Europe and the
US. People seek out more exclusive— but just as expensive—brands.

The very source of South Korea’s meteoric economic growth was fierce competition, driven in
part by obsessive comparison by Koreans with both their fellow citizens and foreign countries.

Kids are taught to do more — or at least more than their peers, families and strangers. “Mom’s
friend’s son” is a figure South Korean parents commonly cite to motivate their kids by highlighting their
comparative lack of effort and/or success.

Recently, these materialist inclinations have trickled down to a form new trend, albeit much more
defeatist in nature: sibal biyong, or ‘fuck-it expenses.’ Here. young South Koreans’ impulsive spending on
trivialities is aimed at relieving stress; the neologism encapsulates the act of spending more money just to
feel better and for no practical reason, — taking a cab to travel a short distance, for example.

Though materialism is not unique to South Korea, its history and geography (resources are
centralized in Seoul) have certainly made it rather extreme.

South Korea is a society that values modesty only at the most superficial level. Success and
power need to be seen and acknowledged. And material goods are the country’s favorite means of
achieving this.