How is the Korean ethnic nationalism affecting the ethnic stratification of Korean society? - Kim Seoyoung(김서영)

  Just as ethnic nationalism, which emphasizes ancestry, language, culture, and customs, is strongly characterized by Korean nationalism, it emphasizes the homogeneity and unity of the Korean people. Furthermore, as the national status has increased due to rapid industrialization and economic growth, the likelihood of showing expansionary and aggressive nationalism tendencies rather than resistance nationalism has gradually increased.

 This Korean nationalism promotes the formation of racial stratification. First, it is a linguistic factor. The most important thing for foreign migrants in migrant countries is language, and Korean society, a homogenous nation, uses a monolingual language. The same linguistic environment affects all members to the consciousness of emphasizing a homogenous nation state, and acts as a factor that makes it difficult to accommodate other ethnic groups who speak other languages and to give them a certain distance. Even if foreign migrants have acquired Korean citizenship, it is difficult to form linguistic emotions and consensus that only Koreans feel and sympathize with, so the perception of them as strangers still prevails in Korean society. These perceptions and trends are also affecting children of multicultural families. Due to the difference in language proficiency of foreign parents, these children have differences in relationships with peers and academic performance, and may even affect the formation of self-esteem, leading to the possibility of becoming an alienated group in Korean society. Since language functions to reflect the homogeneity of one's own group and show their identity to other groups, the difference in language proficiency of overseas migrants has a great influence in the process of racial stratification formation. 

Second, it is a lifestyle factor. The lifestyle that the public understands in some countries refers to the culture of the mainstream group society. The lifestyle is a culture that certain ethnic groups have formed over a long period of time, and the same ethnic group has similar lifestyles and cultural consciousness. In particular, in the case of a single ethnic group, a similar lifestyle becomes an important factor that emphasizes differentiation from other ethnic groups, and in this process, the lifestyle has a great influence on the promotion of racial stratification formation. 

Third, it is a customary factor. Customary factors mean that the usual perceptions of mainstream society appear as actions naturally in the course of life. At the center of this is the traditional custom that strengthens common awareness. Due to this customary influence, the stronger familialism, the more important school ties or delay are, and in problem-solving methods, there is a tendency to rely on the power of relatives or similar family groups rather than principles based on public ethics. This trend made it difficult for foreign migrants to adapt in Korean society and placed other ethnic groups at a lower level. However, even if foreign migrants are of the same ethnic group as the mainstream group, if their perceptions of customs are different, the mainstream group does not accept them from an equal point of view.