Communication, Digital Media, and Popular Culture in Korea

Contemporary Research and Future Prospects

Edited by Kyong Yoon Yong Jin and Nojin Kwak - Foreword by Peng Hwa Ang - Afterword by Eyun-Jung Ki and Seungahn Nah - Contributions by Ji-Hyun Ahn; Younghan Cho; Hye Seung Chung; Yongick Jeong; Kyong Yoon Yong Jin; Seok Kang; Hun Shik Kim; Jeong-Nam Kim; Min-Sun Kim; Narae Kim; Shin Dong Kim; Yeojin Kim; Yeuseung Kim; Yong-Chan Kim; Youna Kim; Yung Soo Kim; Nojin Kwak; Hye-ryeon Lee; Yu Won Oh; Hye-Jin Paek; Ahran Park; Chang Sup Park; Ji Hoon Park; Namkee Park; Yoonmo Sang; Minsun Shim; Jae-Hwa Shin; Kyong Yoon and Kyu Ho Youm

In recent decades, Korean communication and media have substantially grown to become some of the most significant segments of Korean society. Since the early 1990s, Korea has experienced several distinctive changes in its politics, economy, and technology, which are directly related to the development of local media and culture. Korea has greatly developed several cutting-edge technologies, such as smartphones, video games, and mobile instant messengers to become the most networked society throughout the world. As the Korean Wave exemplifies, the once small and peripheral Korea has also created several unique local popular cultures, including television programs, movies, and popular music, known as K-pop, and these products have penetrated many parts of the world. As Korean media and popular culture have rapidly grown, the number of media scholars and topics covering these areas in academic discourses has increased. These scholars’ interests have expanded from traditional media, such as Korean journalism and cinema, to several new cutting-edge areas, like digital technologies, health communication, and LGBT-related issues. In celebrating the Korean American Communication Association’s fortieth anniversary in 2018, this book documents and historicizes the growth of growing scholarship in the realm of Korean media and communication.

Lexington Books

Pages: 532 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4985-6203-4 • Hardback • May 2018 • $172.00 • (£133.00)

978-1-4985-6205-8 • Paperback • May 2019 • $60.99 • (£47.00)

Subjects: History / Asia / Korea, Social Science / World / Asia, Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies

Communication, Digital Media, and Popular Culture in Korea

Contemporary Research and Future Prospects

Hardback

Paperback

Summary

In recent decades, Korean communication and media have substantially grown to become some of the most significant segments of Korean society. Since the early 1990s, Korea has experienced several distinctive changes in its politics, economy, and technology, which are directly related to the development of local media and culture. Korea has greatly developed several cutting-edge technologies, such as smartphones, video games, and mobile instant messengers to become the most networked society throughout the world. As the Korean Wave exemplifies, the once small and peripheral Korea has also created several unique local popular cultures, including television programs, movies, and popular music, known as K-pop, and these products have penetrated many parts of the world. As Korean media and popular culture have rapidly grown, the number of media scholars and topics covering these areas in academic discourses has increased. These scholars’ interests have expanded from traditional media, such as Korean journalism and cinema, to several new cutting-edge areas, like digital technologies, health communication, and LGBT-related issues. In celebrating the Korean American Communication Association’s fortieth anniversary in 2018, this book documents and historicizes the growth of growing scholarship in the realm of Korean media and communication.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 532 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4985-6203-4 • Hardback • May 2018 • $172.00 • (£133.00)

978-1-4985-6205-8 • Paperback • May 2019 • $60.99 • (£47.00)

Subjects: History / Asia / Korea, Social Science / World / Asia, Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies

Author

Dal Yong Jin is professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University.

Nojin Kwak is professor and chair of the Department of Communication Studies and director of the Nam Center for Korean Studies at the University of Michigan.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Peng Hwa Ang
Introduction: Review and Future Prospect of Korean Communication Research, Dal Yong Jin and Nojin Kwak
Part I: Institutionalization of Korean Communication
Chapter 1: Communication Theory: Recounting Forty Years of Communication Research:
A Scholarly Mosaic of the Korean American Communication Association, Jeong-Nam Kim, Yu Won Oh, and Narae Kim
Chapter 2: Communication Law in Korea: A Topic for Global Research, Kyu Ho Youm, Yoonmo Sang, and Ahran Park
Chapter 3: Political Economy of the Korean Media Industry, Shin Dong Kim
Part II: Communication Systems
Chapter 4: Political Communication of Korea in the ICT Era: Triadic Interactions among Government, Media, and the Public, Seok Kang, Yeojin Kim, and Chang Sup Park
Chapter 5: Korean Journalism: From Partners of Political Power to Adversarial Agents of Social Change, Hun Shik Kim
Chapter 6: Communication and Technology, Namkee Park
Part III: Public Communication
Chapter 7: A Survey of Health Communication Scholarship on Korea: Breadth, Depth, and Trends of Published Research, Hye-ryeon Lee, Hye-Jin Paek, and Minsun Shim
Chapter 8: A Review of Korea-Related Advertising Research, Yongick Jeong and Yeuseung Kim
Chapter 9: The Development and Trends of Public Relations Research, Theory, and Practice in Korea, Jae-Hwa Shin
Part IV: Digital Media
Chapter 10: Digital Media and Culture in Korea, Kyong Yoon
Chapter 11: Game Studies in the Age of Digital Korea, Dal Yong Jin
Chapter 12: Urban Communication and Community Studies: Korean Communication Scholars' Perspectives, Yong-Chan Kim
Chapter 13: Visual Communication: Photojournalism and Beyond, Yung Soo Kim
Part V: Cultural Studies
Chapter 14: Intercultural Communication: Challenges of Studying “Korean” Culture and Communication in Globalizing World, Min-Sun Kim
Chapter 15: Sports Communication, Younghan Cho and Ji-Hyun Ahn
Chapter 16: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Studies, Ji Hoon Park
Chapter 17: Hallyu: Korean Wave Media Culture in a Digital Age, Youna Kim
Chapter 18: From National to Transnational: A Historiography of Korean Cinema, Hye Seung Chung

Reviews

Dal Yong Jin and Nojin Kwak’s edited volume of Communication, Digital Media, and Popular Culture in Korea is an ambitious, timely, and resourceful reference that covers a wide variety of ever-expanding scholarship on South Korean (hereafter, Korean) communication, journalism, media, and popular culture, conducted by ethnic Koreans or Korean nationals.

— International Journal of Communication

There is no doubt that this volume is a valuable toolbox for further research as well as a helpful map to provide an overview of present studies . . . it is useful guidebook for the undergraduate level audience who wants to know the influence of Korean cultural products in this globalizing world and the genealogy of research on communication and media in Korea written in English. Readers who try to understand the current media situation such as digitalization and politico-economy systematization also can gain a clue from concrete cases.
— Asiascape: Digital Asia

Jin and Kwak have assembled a set of essays that are brimming with hard facts and sapid data, and true to their goals, this volume showcases the many important contributions scholars have made that, when taken

together, convey a vivid story of Korea’s emergence as a global leader in entertainment and engineering. . . this volume will serve as a rare English language reference for Korea-related communication scholarship, ensuring this publication’s role as a building block for future studies.
— Pacific Affairs

This collection of essays provides multidisciplinary yet accessible insights into the ways in which popular culture intersects with communications in South Korea. The various contributors explain how popular culture in the country shapes and is shaped by communications laws, policies, strategies, markets, technologies, and infrastructures. This edited volume should be a useful reference for students and researchers of South Korean communications, media, and popular culture for years to come.
— Hyung-Gu Lynn, University of British Columbia

While Korean popular culture and digital media products have global prominence, less is known internationally about the evolution of Korean media and communications scholarship. This book plays a vitally important role in bringing together Korean academic work on media law, journalism, game studies, political economy, and cinema studies. It will feature prominently in any discussions about the relationship of Korean media and communication studies to the field globally.
— Terry Flew, Professor of Media and Communication, Queensland University of Technology, Australia