Searching for books about Current Elites in Korea (~< 50 yrs) for research. Any recommendations? (x/post /r/korea)

by Nimuelin

Hi, a redditor friend has told me this might be a good place to ask for guidance for a research I want to do on Korean Elites (Rise to power or the way they currently are).

The book/text/paper can be sociological, anthropological, from political science, historic, journalistic (If it's a detailed analysis)

The text can be in English/Spanish/French/German because I don't know Korean, unfortunately. I have no preference about the nationality of the author, everything is welcome :)

FYI, I live in Argentina so recommendations will probably have to be in electronic format, I don't think I'm going to be able to bring books from abroad due to the high cost and import restrictions.

Thank you very much.

I'm already browsing through the /r/AskHistorians book master list thread to see what applies but it will be good to have insight and guidance from people with experience.

edit: ~<50 yrs meant post WWII/Korean War period. Not the age of people. My bad.

grimpeur

I've done research on Korea from an economic perspective (looking at how political changes and actions were central to development), but there's some overlap with you want so here's a few papers that might be a good starting point. If you are looking for specific individuals then these papers won't be much help, but if you want an idea of what sort of groups elites belonged to then I think they will be helpful. The links are mostly about how economic and political elites were both focused on growth and development, with political favorites and corruption being part of the relationship.

I also don't know how much basic info you have about the Park government but I would definitely start by researching the dramatic changes Park introduced into the country and economy because they form the basis of Korea in the second half on the 20th century.

Corruption and NIC development: A case study of South Korea Looks at how corruption between Korean conglomerates (the Chaebol) and the government was intertwined with development.

Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines Compares crony capitalism in the two countries. Useful because the corny capitilists were the economic elties, andf worked with political elites.

The Treatment of Market Power in Korea About how Chaebols are entrenched in Korea, and how they were even more entrenched previously. Shows the entrenchment of the economic elites who head them.

I don't have time to track any more links down now but if you let me know what specifically you are looking for or are interested in I can check again later and hopefully find some more relevant sources for you!