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The delusion of ‘conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law’ - A study on daughter-in-law's self narrative after 2015

  • Journal of Popular Narrative
  • 2026, 32(1), pp.209~250
  • DOI : 10.18856/jpn.2026.32.1.006
  • Publisher : The Association of Popular Narrative
  • Research Area : Interdisciplinary Studies > Interdisciplinary Research
  • Received : January 10, 2026
  • Accepted : February 14, 2026
  • Published : February 28, 2026

Park Dasom 1

1한양대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The various issues condensed into the term ‘conflict between mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law’ in our society, despite being a concrete reality faced by contemporary female subjects, have not been actively explored in Korean modern literary studies. Although the popularization of feminism after 2015 led to a flourishing of research into various female characters and their relationships within the Korean literary field, the status of the daughter-in-law or mother-in-law and their relationship have not been adequately addressed. Based on this critical awareness, this paper analyzes two self-narratives by daughters-in-law published since 2015: The Wise Life of a B-Class Daughter-in-Law and You, Don't Cross That Line. Through this analysis, we aim to illuminate what ‘becoming a daughter-in-law’ means to young women in contemporary Korean society and propose ‘In-Laws’ Harassment’ as a replacement for the misnomer ‘conflict between mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law’. This re-naming allows us to realize that what we have mistakenly considered a private conflict between two women is, in fact, sexual discriminatory violence rooted in the structural hierarchy of the patriarchal family system. By re-recognizing the suffering and its perpetuation experienced by female subjects as daughters-in-law as a form of gender-based violence within the family, this paper contributes to the expansion of the scope of family narrative studies.

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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