Narratives of success and failure in ressentiment: assuming victimhood and transmuting frustration among young Korean men
Narratives of success and failure in ressentiment: assuming victimhood and transmuting frustration among young Korean men
In this article, we examine toxic masculinity, anti-feminist, anti-globalisation, and anti-military conscription positions in the narratives of what constitutes success and failure among young South Korean men during the COVID-19 pandemic. Misogynistic accounts attributed to the globalised effects of neoliberalism and its evolution through South Korean meritocratic competition, compounded by the social isolation of the pandemic, remain a puzzle psychologically, despite their toxic emotionality. We use the analytical framework of ressentiment to consolidate references to moral victimhood, indignation, a sense of destiny, powerlessness, and transvaluation, as components of a single emotional mechanism responsible for misogynistic accounts. In an empirical plausibility probe, we analyse qualitative surveys with young South Korean men and examine the content of the far-right social sharing site Ilbe (일베) which hosts conversations of young men about success and self-improvement. Our findings show envy, shame, and inefficacious anger transvaluated into to moral victimhood, misogynistic hatred, vindictiveness against women and feminists, and anti-globalisation stances. We discuss how the content of these narratives of success and failure in ressentiment relates to the electoral win of the right-wing People Power party in March 2022 which capitalised on anti-feminist grievances. We also consider the socio-political consequences of ressentiment narratives in the highly gendered and polarised South Korean society and expand the study of ressentiment outside the context of Western democracies where it has been most extensively elaborated.
anger, COVID-19, Incel, misogyny, powerlessness, ressentiment, South Korea, victimhood
Capelos, Tereza
bd3b5744-cbcc-44a4-9b73-b088d82154e7
Nield, Ellen
99679869-e26a-45d5-9e79-165f089dfa3d
Salmela, Mikko
e1deaa50-cfe6-47b3-939e-6856ea5a1513
Capelos, Tereza
bd3b5744-cbcc-44a4-9b73-b088d82154e7
Nield, Ellen
99679869-e26a-45d5-9e79-165f089dfa3d
Salmela, Mikko
e1deaa50-cfe6-47b3-939e-6856ea5a1513
Capelos, Tereza, Nield, Ellen and Salmela, Mikko
(2023)
Narratives of success and failure in ressentiment: assuming victimhood and transmuting frustration among young Korean men.
Social Sciences, 12 (5), [259].
(doi:10.3390/socsci12050259).
Abstract
In this article, we examine toxic masculinity, anti-feminist, anti-globalisation, and anti-military conscription positions in the narratives of what constitutes success and failure among young South Korean men during the COVID-19 pandemic. Misogynistic accounts attributed to the globalised effects of neoliberalism and its evolution through South Korean meritocratic competition, compounded by the social isolation of the pandemic, remain a puzzle psychologically, despite their toxic emotionality. We use the analytical framework of ressentiment to consolidate references to moral victimhood, indignation, a sense of destiny, powerlessness, and transvaluation, as components of a single emotional mechanism responsible for misogynistic accounts. In an empirical plausibility probe, we analyse qualitative surveys with young South Korean men and examine the content of the far-right social sharing site Ilbe (일베) which hosts conversations of young men about success and self-improvement. Our findings show envy, shame, and inefficacious anger transvaluated into to moral victimhood, misogynistic hatred, vindictiveness against women and feminists, and anti-globalisation stances. We discuss how the content of these narratives of success and failure in ressentiment relates to the electoral win of the right-wing People Power party in March 2022 which capitalised on anti-feminist grievances. We also consider the socio-political consequences of ressentiment narratives in the highly gendered and polarised South Korean society and expand the study of ressentiment outside the context of Western democracies where it has been most extensively elaborated.
Text
socsci-12-00259-v2
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 14 April 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 24 April 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Salmela’s work was supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 832940). No other funding was received for the research.
Keywords:
anger, COVID-19, Incel, misogyny, powerlessness, ressentiment, South Korea, victimhood
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 483256
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/483256
ISSN: 2076-0760
PURE UUID: 935679aa-4b8f-4189-bf8e-eb37f1b4f495
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Date deposited: 26 Oct 2023 17:05
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:15
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Contributors
Author:
Tereza Capelos
Author:
Ellen Nield
Author:
Mikko Salmela
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