2015, Vol.4, No.2

Asia Review 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.86

pISSN : 2234-0386
https://journal.kci.go.kr/asiareview

Despite the remarkable economic growth and democratization, South Korea today is suffering from the paradox of affluence and democratization. Despite being among the East Asian countries that have experienced great economic progress, we are witnessing a sharp deficit in citizens’ life satisfaction. This research finds the main source of the problem in the reduction of marginal utility in increased material goods, while at the same time, competition for social status has intensified. Under these circumstances, Social quality, which represents the quality of the society, assumes paramount importance. Empirical analysis suggests that people’s happiness is highly correlated with and contingent upon the social quality, especially the competence of civil society. And if the social quality is limited, the effect of material wealth on happiness all but vanishes. Because of its low levels of social quality, Korean society is plagued with passive risk aversion, excessive material-based competition, and winner-takes all outcomes. Therefore, in order to increase happiness and satisfaction it is imperative to improve the social quality. The article comes to the conclusion that enhanced fairness and transparency is the key.

This paper examines how creativity is defined in East Asian cultures andhow the notion of creativity is different from a societal to an individuallevel. It is argued that the society’s tolerance or openness to minoritygroups is one of the most critical factors that contribute to the differencesbetween Asian and Western creativity. A mechanism of how opennesshelps promote creativity in a society is proposed. Since openness increasesthe variance of individual creativities, the sum of individual creativitiesincreases as the openness level increases. Based on this discussion,methods are suggested on how creativity in Asian societies can bepromoted.

This paper attempts to suggest a vision for East Asia by comparing thehistorical times of 1894 and 2014. While China Dream as an alternativefuture returns to a traditional past, Japan Dream does not move beyond themodernization that Japan successfully pursued more than 100 years ago. Korea’s alternative vision can be derived from blending existing dreamsand ensuring consent from the three major powers. Korea needs to play arole of a middle power by facilitating mutual trust of major state powersand by brokering and coordinating their interests. In doing so, this role willrequire an architectural view and designing diplomatic capabilities.