Suicide In Korea Series: Iv. How Suicide Spread In Korea
Saturday, 21 April 2018
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The last post discussed the global sociology of suicides, and how its implications are entirely applicable in Korea. In fact, one of the lessons that can be gleaned form the last post is this: there is nothing particularly "cultural" about Korea's animo of high suicides. This is an important point, because many observers like to make all kinds of arguments about Korea based on Korea's high suicide rate. This is a mistake -- common humanity is quite enough to explain the entirety of Korea's animo of high suicides. The global phenomenon of suicides clearly show that Korea's high level of suicide was something to be expected out of a country that rapidly industrialized. Every single country in the world has seen a dramatic rise in suicide rate as it industrialized. Every single country in the world that industrialized later than others saw its suicide rate faster than the countries that industrialized earlier. It would defy common sense if Korea was an exception.
This does not mean, however, that the precise way in which Korea came to have such high rate of suicide is uninteresting. As long as we do not draw the wrong conclusion -- i.e. Korea is culturally predisposed to high suicides -- the manner in which Korea experienced increased suicide is worth exploring. So in this post, we will take a discursive look at how suicide spread in Korea in the last 15 years or so.
I. Middle-Aged Men After Post-East Asian Financial Crisis
As the Korean explained in the previous post, if there was anything surprising about Korea's suicide trends, it was that the rate of suicide was extremely low as the country developed economically in the 1980s, not that the rate is as high as it is today. particularly among women aged under 40 -- because young women generally are more susceptible to copycat suicides.)
In case of Korea, the copycat effect was immediate and visible. On the day after Choi Jin-Sil's death, for example, three women committed suicide in the exactly same manner as Choi, by hanging themselves with medical bandages. In 2008, October was the month with the highest number of suicides, with 65% more suicides compared to September.
Which group will the suicide contagion strike next? All suicidal trends are worrisome, but it is particularly dispiriting to see the group that appears to be next in line for the suicide contagion -- that is, bullied children. In the last few months, there has been a rash of suicides committed by middle school and high school children who were viciously bullied by their classmates. These news reports amplify the stories of these students who took their lives, planting ideas to other similarly situated children. (This, of course, is not to say that those stories do not deserve to be heard.) Fortunately, unlike social leaders, celebrities or even middle-aged men, the behaviors of school children can be modified more easily, as they spend their lives in a regulated environment, namely school. The recent rash of suicides did cause the government and civic groups to react quickly and present measures to address bullying and suicide prevention.
However, at bottom, it is too much to expect that any particular social group could be immune to suicides in a high suicide society. Many theories are given to explain Korea's high suicide rate in particular groups -- for example, a culture that emphasizes the importance of gaji (to explain the spate of suicide among social leaders,) excessive stress caused by vicious attacks on the Internet (to explain the suicides among celebrities,) and so on. Those theories may well be true. But ultimately, as stated at the beginning of this article, Korea's high suicide rate is not being caused by one particular reason or another. Simply put, what is supposed to happen is happening in Korea now, as Korea traveled from pre-modernity to post-modernity in just 60 years. While it is certainly important to address the more proximate causes of high suicide rates in Korea, the most important ingredient may be time.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com. Sumber http://askakorean.blogspot.com
The last post discussed the global sociology of suicides, and how its implications are entirely applicable in Korea. In fact, one of the lessons that can be gleaned form the last post is this: there is nothing particularly "cultural" about Korea's animo of high suicides. This is an important point, because many observers like to make all kinds of arguments about Korea based on Korea's high suicide rate. This is a mistake -- common humanity is quite enough to explain the entirety of Korea's animo of high suicides. The global phenomenon of suicides clearly show that Korea's high level of suicide was something to be expected out of a country that rapidly industrialized. Every single country in the world has seen a dramatic rise in suicide rate as it industrialized. Every single country in the world that industrialized later than others saw its suicide rate faster than the countries that industrialized earlier. It would defy common sense if Korea was an exception.
This does not mean, however, that the precise way in which Korea came to have such high rate of suicide is uninteresting. As long as we do not draw the wrong conclusion -- i.e. Korea is culturally predisposed to high suicides -- the manner in which Korea experienced increased suicide is worth exploring. So in this post, we will take a discursive look at how suicide spread in Korea in the last 15 years or so.
I. Middle-Aged Men After Post-East Asian Financial Crisis
As the Korean explained in the previous post, if there was anything surprising about Korea's suicide trends, it was that the rate of suicide was extremely low as the country developed economically in the 1980s, not that the rate is as high as it is today. particularly among women aged under 40 -- because young women generally are more susceptible to copycat suicides.)
In case of Korea, the copycat effect was immediate and visible. On the day after Choi Jin-Sil's death, for example, three women committed suicide in the exactly same manner as Choi, by hanging themselves with medical bandages. In 2008, October was the month with the highest number of suicides, with 65% more suicides compared to September.
Which group will the suicide contagion strike next? All suicidal trends are worrisome, but it is particularly dispiriting to see the group that appears to be next in line for the suicide contagion -- that is, bullied children. In the last few months, there has been a rash of suicides committed by middle school and high school children who were viciously bullied by their classmates. These news reports amplify the stories of these students who took their lives, planting ideas to other similarly situated children. (This, of course, is not to say that those stories do not deserve to be heard.) Fortunately, unlike social leaders, celebrities or even middle-aged men, the behaviors of school children can be modified more easily, as they spend their lives in a regulated environment, namely school. The recent rash of suicides did cause the government and civic groups to react quickly and present measures to address bullying and suicide prevention.
However, at bottom, it is too much to expect that any particular social group could be immune to suicides in a high suicide society. Many theories are given to explain Korea's high suicide rate in particular groups -- for example, a culture that emphasizes the importance of gaji (to explain the spate of suicide among social leaders,) excessive stress caused by vicious attacks on the Internet (to explain the suicides among celebrities,) and so on. Those theories may well be true. But ultimately, as stated at the beginning of this article, Korea's high suicide rate is not being caused by one particular reason or another. Simply put, what is supposed to happen is happening in Korea now, as Korea traveled from pre-modernity to post-modernity in just 60 years. While it is certainly important to address the more proximate causes of high suicide rates in Korea, the most important ingredient may be time.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com. Sumber http://askakorean.blogspot.com