Paper short abstract:

An integral element of Korean social fabric is senior-junior dependencies—an age-graded, patronage-like relationship between seniors and juniors within fixed-membership institutions. Praised as beautiful cross-cohort care, the practice is also ambivalently juxtaposed to dominant neoliberal values.

Paper long abstract:

An integral element of the South Korean social fabric is the senior-junior dependencies—an age-graded patronage-like relationship between seniors (sŏnbae) and juniors (hubae) within institutions of fixed membership, such as high schools, universities, and workplaces. Within this relationship, seniors are not merely older; they command authority and use their presumably higher social standing to help juniors with resources and opportunities, whereas juniors are to repay with loyalty and whatever favors seniors might request—and both parties perform care for each other. Practiced by virtually all Koreans, senior-junior ties serve as gateways to social and professional advancement and provide a vital safety net. Many Koreans extol the ubiquitous senior-junior culture as a beautiful practice of cross-cohort care, connecting it to the traditional morality of native humanism. As such, it is often juxtaposed to neoliberal individualism and competitiveness, which have become hegemonic in South Korea since the 1990s. Yet the senior-junior culture also occasionally becomes a focal point for criticisms, which denounce it as old-fashioned, irrational, and nepotistic, ostensibly hindering the achievement of a meritocratic and equitable society and perpetuating cliquism in hiring. I explore these ambivalences via in-depth interviews with middle-class South Koreans. The paper analyzes their experiences of negotiating the “traditional” morality and practices that embrace the asymmetrical cross-cohort dependencies against the late-capitalist values, which prize individualism, autonomy, and merit-based competition, particularly in the sphere of employment. The study illuminates how the historical practice of cross-cohort dependencies both helps and impedes South Koreans in navigating the contingencies of late capitalism.