Browsing by Subject "Korea"
Now showing 1 - 19 of 19
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item A qualitative examination of culture shock and the influential factors affecting newly-arrived Korean students at Texas A&M University(2009-05-15) McLeod, Kent DoehrThe primary purpose of the study was to reveal the perceptions of three newlyarrived male Korean students enrolled in Texas A&M University during the 2007 fall semester regarding their experiences with culture shock and the reasons they ascribed for this phenomenon through three in-depth, individualized interviews and weekly L1 journals. The manner in which they responded to the culture shock as well as the influential factors that assisted them in coping was also explored. By using a constant comparative method of analysis, the collected data was scrutinized and analyzed for emerging patterns. To assist in this process, the data was input into computer files and analyzed using the software program NVivo 7. The findings uncovered the existence of some degree of culture shock for each of the three participants at different times throughout the semester. In particular, a comparatively much higher incidence of interpersonal and psychological symptoms of culture shock than of physiological ones was displayed. Strong support for the individual nature of culture shock was also exhibited. In addition, the participants? perceptions of the experiences as well as their ability to cope or not cope with culture shock revealed a capacity to overcome obstacles and reflect upon differences. Support for the majority of the factors hypothesized to be influential in helping or hindering the participants? ability to cope with culture shock was exhibited. The noteworthy impact of the participants? personal outlook, marital status, length of stay in the U.S., religiosity, and previous international experience on lessening the effects of culture shock was found. The influence of English, the university, and social connectedness, however, was important in increasing their adjustment stress. The cultural and ethnic differences between Korea and the U.S. were found to be the source of highly individual challenges faced by the participants during the study. As all the participants were males and their ages were within five years of each other, it was not possible to compare the influence of these variables among them. The only factor expected to have been influential in the participants? adjustments to culture shock that was not evident was counseling.Item Analysis of the factors and the roles of HRD in organizational learning styles as identified by key informants at selected corporations in the Republic of Korea(Texas A&M University, 2005-08-29) Jeong, JinchulThe core competency of the most effective organizations will be their capacity to learn in an increasingly complex and unpredictable business environment and HRD should expand its role to become a partner in the transformation of the entire organization. Organizational learning style, therefore, is an important research topic for the field of HRD (human resource development). This study had four primary purposes, which were germane to the corporations in the Republic of Korea: 1) to identify what organizational learning styles exist; 2) to identify the factors that differentiate the organizations with different organizational learning styles; 3) to identify the roles of HRD to facilitate organizational learning within the organizations in each organizational learning style; and 4) to identify the differences in the roles of HRD to facilitate organizational learning among the organizations with different organizational learning styles. The population for this study was the key informants at the corporations in the three industry areas: wholesale and retail trade; manufacturing; and hotels and restaurants. The survey instrument was delivered to 353 key informants, i.e. HR persons, at 240 corporations and 237 key informants at 166 corporations returned the survey instrument for a return rate of 67.1%. The findings of this study revealed the followings: 1) there are four types of organizational learning styles and the characteristics of each type of organizational learning style is determined by the combination of the organizations?? learning orientations, i.e. Knowledge Source, Learning Content, Dissemination Mode, and Learning Scope; 2) types of organizational culture, industry classification, and the size of an organization are the factors that differentiate the organizations with different organizational learning styles; 3) all roles of HRD are necessary for facilitating organizational learning; and 4) there are not differences in the roles of HRD to facilitate organizational learning among the organizations with different organizational learning styles.Item Business plan for a new Korean company based on show control technology(2007-05) Kim, Jung Ro, 1955-; Glavan, JamesThis thesis presents a business plan for launching a Korean company based on show control technology. This company will unite artistic and creative skills with the latest possibilities offered by new technology. Chapter 1 introduces the new trends in technology and society that have given rise to show control technology, presents an Executive Summary, describes the advantages of a show control business, and gives the background and experience of the entrepreneur. Chapter 2 offers a definition and description of show control technology, describes its origins and development, summarizes its characteristics, surveys its current uses, and concludes with three case studies of different types of places and events where show control technology was used. Chapter 3 surveys the Korean market for show control, noting that the overall Korean economy and the Korean entertainment market is rapidly expanding. It then looks at examples of how show control technology can be and increasingly has been used: location‐based performances such as theme parks and museums; long‐running performances such as conventions and exhibitions; and touring performances such as musicals and concerts. Chapter 4 discusses the services and products the company will offer, as well as the combinations of the two. Chapter 5 sets forth a marketing plan for the company, noting pitfalls to be avoided and marketing strategies to be employed, and offers a list of prospective clients. Chapter 6 gives a management plan consisting of an overview of the company, a description of its organizational structure, and a development plan, recruitment plan, and financial plan for the first three years of the company, concluding with a statement of long‐term goals for the company. Finally, an appendix gives an estimate of start‐up expenditures, an estimate of operational expenses, an income statement and sales forecast, and a balance sheet.Item Consumers' attitudes towards product placement in three media : a cross-cultural study of the U.S. and Korea(2007-05) Lee, Taejun, 1977-; Sung, YongjunNo previous study has yet examined attitude toward product placement in the U.S. and Korea together. To fill the gap in a body of product placement literature, the current study was conducted to examine any differences and similarities on consumers' attitude toward product placement in three different media: film, television, and music. Further, a previously unexamined element in the literature, genre, was incorporated. The results suggest that both American and Korean consumers have generally positive attitudes toward product placement in films and television. However, with regard to music, both groups express uncertain opinions towards the product placement practice. In addition, specific product types and media genres are considered especially appropriate or inappropriate for the practice. Implications for practitioners and public policy makers are provided.Item Cultural impacts on public perceptions of agricultural biotechnology: comparison between South Korea and the United States(Texas A&M University, 2007-04-25) Nader, Richard HarrisonAccording to Millar (1996), the gulf between science and society is growing. Technologies are tools cultures develop to solve society's problems. The rapid dispersion of science and technology across cultural borders through trade, technology transfer and exchange, increasingly requires people in different cultures to make choices about accepting or rejecting artifacts of science and technology such as genetically modified (GM) foods, which originate primarily from the United States. These issues challenge policy makers and scientists to account for the affects of different cultural perspectives on controversial scientific issues. Given the controversy across cultures over acceptance or rejection of genetically modified (GM) foods, GM foods are an excellent example with which to begin to reveal how culture impacts public perceptions of the risk and benefits of science and technology in different societies. This research will: 1. Define public awareness and understanding of science, specifically GM foods; 2. Examine culture's impact on knowledge, including different cultural approaches to research; and 3. Compare recent findings of a bi-national public opinion survey on GM comparing in South Korea and the United States. The proposed research outlines two research questions: 1) How and in what ways do South Koreans and Americans differ in their opinions about GMOs? This question is important for gathering current points of contrast about how the two cultures may differ; and 2) What role does culture play on opinion formation about GM foods? Through grounded theory, the researcher will investigate how cultural differences help explain opinion on public perceptions of GM foods. Is it possible to identify common cultural factors that impact public perceptions of GM foods between South Koreans and Americans? The study will utilize both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Higher education is a major producer of new science and technology. The study is significant for higher education administrators who must understand cultural factors impacting science internationally and globalization of the academic enterprise.Item Dokdo : lone island(2016-08) Koshmrl, Matthew J.; Howard, Donald Wayne; Stekler, Paul; Campbell, CraigThe following report is about my thesis film Dokdo: Lone island. The report covers the comprehensive process of filmmaking that I went through, from inception of the idea to finished film. The report details an introduction to the issue of the disputed territory of Dokdo, an island that both South Korea and Japan have claimed since the end of World War Two. The report continues with a visual treatment of the film I intended to make after I finished the production stage, and finishes with a detailed retrospection of each step of filmmaking, concluding with how I developed the film that I ultimately produced.Item Economic analysis of the government pricing program for rice in South Korea(Texas Tech University, 1996-05) Cho, Ma Kwang DongRice has been cultivated in South Korea for several thousand years. Sufficient rice production for the people has been a critical objective of all political leaders and is still important to the Republic of Korea in the current era. Rice is well suited to the South Korean climate, since summers are characterized by high temperature, abundant rainfall and high humidity, which are favorable for ricegrowing. Eighty-four percent of South Korean farms produced rice in 1992, and 56 percent of arable land was devoted to rice production (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 1994 [MAFF]). Moreover, 13 percent of the total population of South Korea lives in rural areas. Therefore, rice is the most crucial agricultural product in South Korea, both in production and as a staple food for consumers.Item Educational innovation with CSCL building better schools for 21st century learners(2011-05) Kim, Do Hun; Resta, Paul E.; French, KarenSocial interaction is a powerful medium in education. In this report, I discuss how computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) helps K-12 students to enhance learning. I discussed why socio-constructivism in CSCL is a promising learning method. In addition I suggest that CSCL enhances students’ self-driven learning, motivation, and critical thinking. I also examine how CSCL can be successfully implemented in K-12 schools. In this context, the report identifies the challenges posed by technology implementation and changing teachers’ beliefs in introducing this innovation into schools, and how those challenges can be met. Finally, based on perspectives in support of CSCL, the paper does a critical analysis of the Korean e-learning project, which created a national online leaning network for K-12 students, called Cyber Home Learning System (CHLS), and suggests ways that CSCL may enhance this program.Item Examining women's experiences of sport participation and (dis)empowerment(2015-05) Lim, So Youn; Dixon, Marlene A., 1970-; Todd, Janice; Holahan, Carole; Jin, Su-hyun; Green, ChrisSport has demonstrated the capacity to generate positive personal change for girls and women (e.g., Blinde, Taub, & Han, 2001; Brandy, 2005). While it is suggested that women’s participation in sport can empower them and provide a safe place for them to be themselves, sport experiences can also reinforce the traditional gender roles and expectations and make women feel powerless (e.g., Brace-Govan, 2004; Wheaton & Tomlinson, 1998). The inconsistency of outcomes from women’s sport experiences suggests that sport does not automatically result in positive outcomes (Chalip, 2006; Green, 2008). Therefore, this study utilizes Zimmerman’s framework of Psychological Empowerment, empowerment at the individual level of analysis (Zimmerman, 1995), to explore the sport experiences of women and the empowerment processes and outcomes associated with those experiences. By utilizing the framework, this study aimed to examine how sport experiences affected female participants’ daily lives across different life domains and to identify which attributes of these sport experiences facilitated women’s empowerment or disempowerment. To understand how sport experiences relevant to empowerment, this study utilized an interpretive approach. Twenty three Korean female sport participants were interviewed in-depth using a semi-structured interview technique with probing. The interviewees were asked about their backgrounds of sport participation and then described their sport experiences that they think have strengthened and weakened their capabilities. As results, nearly all the components and elements of the framework were indicated in the interview data. Both empowering and disempowering outcomes and sport elements associated with the outcomes were identified. Some of the women’s empowerment was limited to the sport context, while others infiltrated other life domains such as at work, school, or home. The findings in this study suggest to re-think the conceptualization and boundary condition of Zimmerman’s empowerment framework by proposing two concepts of individual-level empowerment: self empowerment and action empowerment.Item An explorative study of luxury consumption in Korea(2009-05) Kwon, Min Woo; Sung, Yongjun; Choi, Sejung MarinaBoth the advertising industry and academia have been paying more and more attention to the growth and potential of the luxury market. In East Asian countries, the market’s annual growth rate for 2006 was nearly 18%, nearly doubling the global growth rate for 2005. Despite the increasing popularity of luxury brands in East Asian countries, there is a dearth of empirical knowledge regarding East Asians’ consumption motives. By surveying a sample of 200 consumers from South Korea, an exemplar of East Asian luxury consumers, the current study provides a general understanding of such motives. The findings suggest that Korean consumers have five primary social and psychological motives for the consumption of luxury brands: social ostentation, aesthetic appearance seeking, personal hedonism seeking, practicality seeking, and difference seeking. This study also offers findings related to the relationship between demographic characteristics (for Korean consumers) and luxury consumption behavior. The study achieves two things: First, it is a contribution to the body of literature on luxury consumption; second, it provides managerial implications for global marketers and brand managers who want to construct targeted and customized strategies for East Asian consumers to enhance their purchase intention toward luxury brands.Item Han'gŭl orthography in pre-colonial Korea(2011-12) Haley, Matthew Robert; Oppenheim, Robert, 1969-; Tsai, Chien-hsinThis thesis will explore how orthographic efforts to consider Han'gŭl, the Korean vernacular alphabet, in the realm of sensuous perception distinguished the Korean script from mere written orality and made it into an autonomous object fit for nationalist appreciation.Item Immigrant media and communication processes for social change in Korea : a case study of Migrants Workers Television(2008-12) Chae, Young-gil; Wilkins, Karin Gwinn, 1962-In the context of critical development communication, the processes are discussed centering two key constructs including 'power' and 'dialogic praxis' in the analytical frame for this research. In addition, theories and practices of immigrant media and social movements provide constructive perspectives discussing characteristics forms of collective actions for immigrant communities (local-global, transnational, and heterogeneous; roles of immigrant media (movement resource and cultural resource) in a host society. However, we are less informed about communication processes for migrant agents to construct migrant social movement. Much less is discussed about communication processes and their implications of media communications of immigrant media. Thus, to bridge the theoretical and practical gaps, this dissertation research attempt to contextualize communication processes of an immigrant media, MWTV, engaged in the migrant social movement in order to explore how relatively powerless migrant agents develop alternative forms and ways of praxis for social change through their media communications. Throughout two field research, this particular research could identify a 'asymmetric power structure' formed through the relations between diverse social agencies related to the processes for social changes for the immigrant communities in Korea, which induce 'the mediated praxis' shaping 'asymmetric solidarity,' 'objectification of the migrant agents,' and 'assimilation of movement culture.' Then, the immigrant media, MWTV have been developed to 'remediate' existing dominant forms and ways of social changes constitutive of 'dialogic praxis' of the foreign agents. Thus, media communication of immigrant media is viewed as conscious collective actions to 'remediate mediated praxis' for social and cultural change in a host society rather than mere symbolic resources for social or cultural reorientation. It means that the flexible, collaborator, and reflective communication structure of MWTV are deliberately reconstructed not as 'conditions' but as 'consequences' of critical reflection on mediated praxis.Item Intermedia agenda setting effects between Internet bulletin boards and traditional news media in U.S. and Korean presidential campaigns(2010-08) Jang, Seckjun; McCombs, Maxwell E.This comparative research looks at intermedia agenda-setting effects between Internet bulletin boards and traditional news media, such as daily newspapers and broadcasting, in both the United States and Korea. By examining this intermedia relationship and the flow of influence by Internet bulletin boards on traditional media during presidential campaigns in the two countries, this dissertation study attempts to extend our knowledge of intermedia agenda-setting research. In addition, it also investigates, in reverse, the effects of daily newspapers and broadcasting on Internet bulletin boards. Finally, attention is given to different types of discussion cultures in the two countries. Results of this dissertation research indicated that there are intermedia relationships between Internet bulletin boards and traditional news media, such as newspapers and broadcasting, at the first and second levels of agenda setting using cross-lagged correlation comparisons. More specifically, at the first level of agenda setting in the United States, the results explained only the influence of newspapers on Netizen opinions posted on Internet bulletin boards. In summary, the results concerning issue agenda in the United States indicate that the U.S. Netizen concentrates more on the issue agenda of newspapers than of broadcasting. In the second level of agenda setting in the United States, cross-lagged correlation comparisons not only indicated the influence of both newspapers and broadcasting on opinions posted on Internet bulletin boards, but they also clarified it in this research. Formerly, there was no attempt to examine attributes of the intermedia agenda-setting functions of the U.S. media. This research now provides an explanation of the apparent relationship between traditional media and the Internet. At the first level of agenda setting in Korea, the result of the cross-lagged correlation suggested that Korean newspaper and broadcasting issue agenda influenced Netizen opinions on Internet bulletin boards. As the result of second-level agenda setting in Korea showed earlier, cross-lagged correlation comparisons presented intermedia agenda-setting functions between both newspapers and broadcasting, and Internet bulletin boards with each other. These findings contrast with results in the United States.Item Korean EFL teachers’ perspectives about their participation in an extensive reading program(2010-08) Byun, Ji-hyun, 1981-; Plakans, Lia; Worthy, Jo; Schallert, Diane L.; Horwitz, Elaine K.; Shiring, Joan M.The purpose of this research was to explore the overall perceptions of EFL teachers toward the extensive reading approach as they experienced the approach first hand. More particularly, EFL teachers’ perspectives on the applicability issues of extensive reading for secondary level curriculum in Korea were captured. Also, their personal experience with the approach, including the effect of extensive reading on their foreign language anxiety, was investigated. A total of fourteen teachers in a professional development program participated in the study. They were situated in a print-affluent classroom replete with approximately 1000 books including graded readers, young adult books, some magazines, best sellers and steady seller books. In the reading program, the teachers experienced sustained silent reading, and participated in classroom discussion and activities related to extensive reading. Also, these teachers were strongly encouraged to do outside reading. Data were collected from multiple sources to enhance the credibility of the study, that is, classroom observation including field notes and audio recordings, learner diaries, and interviews. Three surveys were also administered -- the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale, The Teacher Foreign Language Anxiety Scale, and the Affective Questionnaire to Extensive Reading. The findings from the study showed that although the teachers were somewhat resistant to the idea of reading English-language books extensively prior to their participation, they became proponents of the approach once they had the experience of pleasure reading. They also expressed a fondness for graded readers and literature for young adults because of the simplified language and appealing themes that characterize such reading materials, and were willing to introduce them to students in secondary schools. Teachers also recognized the linguistic benefits of extensive reading including vocabulary expansion, positive reading attitude, and a sense of accomplishment from reading extensively. In terms of the applicability issue, however, the participating teachers recommended introducing the approach gradually rather than implementing it immediately, mainly because of the test-emphasized classroom culture of the secondary level curriculum in Korea. In a similar vein, teachers also addressed problematic factors that would be considered an obstacle to bringing the approach to the secondary curriculum. Those obstacles were problems related to curriculum and evaluation, motivating reluctant and struggling students, and teachers’ conflicted role in the extensive reading class. Therefore, as mentioned earlier, they proposed a gradual approach and the use of extra-curricular activities was mentioned as a possible first step to take. Regarding the effect of extensive reading on foreign language anxiety, the data from the scale and from interviews indicated that participating teachers were not highly anxious even prior to the program.Item Sewoon Mixed Use Building redevelopment project(2013-12) Choi, Jeongseok; Doll, Larry A. (Larry Alan); Bieg, KorySewoon Mixed Use Building was the 1st Mixed Use building in Korea and the largest electricity shops and apartment in Asia at that time. In 1970s, it was the symbol of rebirth of Korea from the demolition of Korean War. However, Sewoon Mixed Use Building was a mega structure that was not harmonious with the urban context. Although architects thought shops and elevated streets of Sewoon Mixed Use Building could vitalize the vicinity, it did not work as their ideal plan. As a result, the mega structure has been working as an urban wall that makes nearby districts such a slum area. Moreover, people don’t want to live in the apartment of Sewoon Mixed Use Building so that many housing units have been changed into offices. In this situation, I want to find an architectural solution to revitalize Sewoon Mixed Use Building area by reusing the old mega structures. The Sewoon mixed use building is divided in four buildings. People call them (Sewoon, Daerim, Jinyang, Sinseong) just Sewoon Plaza and the area Sewoon Plaza is located is considered as Sewoon Plaza district. This study focused on two buildings (Sewoon, Daerim). These two buildings are located nearby Jongmyo shrine park and Cheonggye creek park, and they have coonenient public tranfortation condition. Therefore, they have a potential background to be a successful renovated project. The project goal is to make an incubator to change nearby area including Sewoon buildings. The first strategy is making an arcade. Through this long arcade, new Sewoon plaza could become a part of urban context by connecting nearby urban streets and parks. This condition would make people visit Sewoon plaza easier, and new programs of Sewoon plaza would spread out and change slaum areas at the same time. The second strategy is to add new programs. New progrmas are apartment, shop, restaurant, studio for shop, theater, museum and gellery. Residents who can stay even at night are essential element to escape a slum area. Shops that sell artistic craft items and studios for them would make Sewoon arcade attractive. Museum and theater are for young artist, independent movie and small play. In the future, if new programs work well in Sewoon arcade, neighbor buildings would accept these programs and the slum area would disappear continuously.Item Sunrise in the East, sunset in the West : how the Korean and British shipbuilding industries changed places in the 20th century(2013-12) McWiggins, Dan Patrick; Louis, William Roger, 1936-; Minault, Gail; Falola, Toyin; Metzler, Mark; Oppenheim, RobertIn 1965, Britain was less than a decade removed from world shipbuilding supremacy. They yet remained second only to Japan in the industry and boasted a long and proud heritage as one of the world’s best shipbuilders. South Korea, by contrast, at that time had only the barest rudiments of a shipbuilding industry and was not even an inconsequential factor in world shipbuilding. What little shipbuilding was done in Korea in 1965 was primarily concerned with wooden vessels. By 1982, the situation had completely reversed. South Korea was the world’s second-leading shipbuilder and gaining rapidly on Japan, the industry leader. Meanwhile, Britain’s presence in the industry had declined to near-irrelevance and was fading rapidly. This paper examines the technological, social, economic and governmental factors involved in that positional shift and explains how, in roughly two decades, Korea became a world shipbuilding power while the British shipbuilding industry virtually disappeared.Item Three essays on the Korean labor market(2011-05) Kim, Inkyung; Trejo, Stephen J., 1959-; Donald, Stephen; Black, Sandra E.; Oettinger, Gerald S.; Sakamoto, ArthurMy dissertation consists of three essays on the Korean labor market. The first essay studies how the extensive provision of maternity leave and childcare leave in Korea affects the employment and wages of young women. This reform is expected to increase the labor supply and decrease the labor demand for young women. As a result, the mean wage of young women should fall. But the direction of the change in their employment probability is hard to infer because it depends on the relative magnitudes of the shifts of the labor supply and demand curves. A difference-in-difference-in-differences model having older women, older men, and young men simultaneously as the control group suggests that neither the employment nor the hourly wages of young women are affected. The second essay explores why married men have higher hourly earnings and employment propensity than otherwise comparable single men. In a fixed effects regression, which controls for the selection of more productive men into marriage, married men do not experience faster growth in earnings and employment rate before marriage. Rather, when marriage takes place, the earnings of married men start increasing relative to those of single men. Also, that South Korean men have a greater earnings growth after marriage than U.S. men is consistent with the national difference in the degree of specialization within married households. Married men are more likely to work than single men only for the first few years of marriage, and single men outperform married men afterwards. The final essay studies why gender differences in earnings and earnings growth exist among new Korean college graduates before women take time off of work for marriage and motherhood. I find that women do not face an initial earnings gap after graduating college compared to men who finished military service. The lower earnings that women receive can be entirely explained by the difference in age at graduation between men and women. However, women's earnings grow slower than those of men who finished military service. This is partly because a greater percentage of women graduate from colleges of education, which provide slower earnings growth than other types of colleges. Most of the gender difference in earnings growth remains unexplained.Item Understanding the impact of visual image and communication style on consumers’ response to sport advertising and brand : a cross-cultural comparison(2010-08) Seo, Won Jae, 1972-; Green, B. Christine; Chalip, Laurence; Dixon, Marlene; Heere, Bob; Sung, YongjunIn communicating with international markets, one of the key issues is culture. In particular, visual and communication convention are substantial cultural elements, which influence advertising effects. Prior literature suggests that visual and communication culture are different between Western and Asian countries. Past research has indicated that complex visual images, which rely on implicit pictorial images, can be better processed by consumers in collectivist cultures. These researchers further suggest that consumers of individualist cultures are more accustomed to simple visual images that carry direct pictorial images than to implict visual images. Also, prior communication literature posits that while consumers in collectivist cultures value implicit verbal messages, those in individualist cultures regard explicit messages as more effective. Given the literature, this study sought to understand how these cultural preferences influence consumers’ evaluation of the sport ad and brand, and their purchase intentions. The study employed a mixed method. In the experimental section, the study tested the effects of visual images, communication styles, and culture on attitudes and purchase intentions. The qualitative portion sought to explore consumers’ thoughts and feelings toward visual images and communication styles of sport print advertising. For Koreans, the experimental results showed that the complex visual image, high context verbal communication, and the presence of both characteristics induced favorable attitudes toward the ad and brand. These results were also supported by the Korean interview findings. However, the experimental results indicated that regardless of visual images and communication styles, Americans exhibited overall positive attitudes toward the ad and brand. These results were consistent with the American interview findings. Purchase intention was not influenced by visual image type or communication style for either ethnic group. The unexpected findings for American markets were discussed by external and internal influences embedded in America society. Given the findings and discussions, the study proposed two practical frameworks in persuading national and international sport markets: The implicit superiority and schism-bridge effect frameworks.Item Variations in patterns of low fertility in South Korea in 2004: a county level analysis(2009-06-02) Yoon, JungwonSince the early 1960s, South Korea has been going through a rapid fertility decline, along with its socioeconomic development and effective family planning programs. After achieving a desired replacement level of fertility in 1984, the total fertility rate (TFR) of Korea has gradually declined to the level of lowest-low fertility. According to 2004 vital statistics, the TFR for Korea was 1.16-below the lowest-low fertility level of 1.3. Also, Korea's fertility rates have fluctuated and varied spatially, even at the level of low fertility. Undoubtedly, Korean family planning programs have been effective in population control through the last 40 years, but since 2000, the shift to pro-natal policies indicates that Korea's fertility transition is no longer a response to family planning policies. Rather, the level of socioeconomic development is still considered to have a significant effect on Korea's fertility decline. Thus, in this thesis, the primary objective is to examine the socioeconomic determinants of fertility differentials and the variation in low fertility among the counties in South Korea in 2004. Using data from the 2000 census and 2004 vital statistics, I tested the hypothesized relationships between the level of socioeconomic development and fertility based on the demographic transition theory (DTT), by estimating several Ordinary Least Square (OLS) multiple regression models. Specifically, socioeconomic predictors, such as agricultural attainment, labor force participation, and educational attainment, were primarily examined to test the validity of the DTT hypotheses. In addition, this thesis also examined the effects of women's status and traditional norms and cultural values on variation in fertility. My results showed that the DTT is applicable to an accounting of the variance in fertility rates among the Korean counties in 2004. Although the levels of fertility are extremely low all across the country, it is apparent that socioeconomic conditions are having an impact on fertility differentials in Korea.