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The Crisis of Democracy and the Response of the Humanities

  • Journal of Humanities
  • 2026, (100), pp.155~204
  • Publisher : Institute for Humanities
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : January 5, 2026
  • Accepted : January 30, 2026
  • Published : February 28, 2026

CHEON, JUNGHWAN 1

1성균관대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the relationship between the contemporary crisis of democracy and the humanities. The crisis of democracy extends beyond surface phenomena such as the proliferation of populism and the rise of far-right political forces; it constitutes a glocal and multifaceted crisis that emerges through the convergence of technocentrism and techno-capitalist forms of power, which together restructure the public sphere, regimes of truth, and the institutional foundations of universities and scholarship. At this intersection, the humanities function as one of the most sensitive indicators of the state of democracy. The crisis of the humanities therefore cannot be treated as separate from the crisis of democracy. The humanities are tasked with providing normative guidance regarding the direction of technological development and with serving as a safeguard for human moral autonomy within a technologically mediated society. They are expected to distinguish between what is technologically possible and what is ethically required, and to function as a critical restraint on unchecked technological acceleration. Yet this normative mandate confronts a profound gap in social reality, manifested in the widespread dominance of populist logics as well as the contraction and marginalization of the humanities themselves. This gap is multidimensional and structurally produced. Economically, capital increasingly concentrates investment in utilitarian technologies that promise short-term returns, while cultural politics favors emotional immediacy and simplified solutions over sustained critical reflection. In South Korea in particular, the demographic crisis resulting from a declining school-age population, along with multiple structural problems in higher education, has been disproportionately displaced onto the humanities, which are often treated as expendable rather than foundational. At the same time, internal conditions within the humanities have further intensified this predicament, including excessive disciplinary fragmentation, limited capacity for social and political intervention, and a persistent deficit of collective praxis. a limited capacity for social and political intervention, and a persistent deficit of collective praxis. For the humanities to overcome this gap and fulfill their role, a renewed sense of “total” capacity and collective solidarity is required. Confronting the crisis of democracy produced by Big Tech and right-wing populism will be possible only if the humanities reposition themselves at the forefront of intellectual struggle. This, in turn, demands sustained and multifaceted efforts: maintaining scholarly depth while engaging with technological realities, fostering cross-disciplinary cooperation, and actively working to transform institutional conditions rather than merely interpreting them.

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