The Logic of Compressed Modernity. Chang Kyung-Sup
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society.
Figure 2.1 The five constitutive dimensions of compressed modernity
Figure 2.1 shows that compressed modernity is composed of five specific dimensions that are constituted interactively by the two axes of time/space and condensation/compression. The time facet includes both physical time (point, sequence, and amount of time) and historical time (era, epoch, and phase). The space facet includes physical space (location and area) and cultural space (place and region). As compared to physically standardized abstract time–space, era–place serves as a concrete framework for constructing and/or accommodating an actually existing civilization.1 Condensation/Abridgement refers to the phenomenon that the physical process required for the movement or change between two time points (eras) or between two locations (places) is abridged or compacted (Dimensions [I] and [II] respectively). Compression/Complication refers to the phenomenon that diverse components of multiple civilizations that have existed in different eras and/or places coexist in a certain delimited time–space and influence and change each other (Dimensions [III] and [IV] respectively). The phenomena generated in these four dimensions, in turn, interact with each other in complicated ways and further generate different social phenomena (Dimension [V]).
The above schema of differentiating time and space and separating condensation and compression needs a logical justification. In a non-Western historical/social context in which Western modernity is conceived as the core source of civilizational as well as politico-military superiority, the West stands not only as a discrete region but also as a discrete (but prospectively own) moment of history. Where indigenously conscious efforts for civilizational rebirth are defeated by external forces or frustrated internally, the West often becomes both a direction for historical change (modernization) and a contemporaneous source of inter-civilizational remaking (Westernization in practice). The more condensed these changes become – that is, the faster modernization proceeds and the fuller Westernization takes place – the more successful the concerned countries tend to be considered (in spite of cultural and emotional irritations as well as political and economic sacrifices experienced by various indigenous groups). However, the very processes of modernization and Westernization endemically induce the cultural and political backlashes on the part of the adversely affected groups and, in frequent cases, systematically reinforce the traditional/indigenous civilizational constituents as these are deemed ironically useful for a strategic management of modernization and Westernization. Thereby compression becomes inevitable among various discrete temporal and regional civilizational constituents.
2.2 Constitutive Dimensions
The five dimensions of compressed modernity (in Figure 2.1) can be explained in terms of South Korean experiences in the following way. Time(era) condensation/abridgement (Dimension I) can be exemplified by the case that South Koreans have abridged the duration taken for their transition from low-income agricultural economy to advanced industrial economy on the basis of explosively rapid economic development. The rapid changes so often discussed in connection with South Korea – such as the “compressed growth” of the economy and the “compressed modernization” of society – belong to this dimension. (That is, compressed modernization is a component of compressed modernity.) Such compressed (condensed) changes are also apparent in the cultural domain, so that even postindustrial and/or postmodern tendencies are observed in various sections of society. South Koreans’ pride that they have supposedly achieved in merely over half a century such economic and social development as had been carried out over the course of two or three centuries by Westerners has been elevated to the level of the state. The South Korean government has been busy publishing numerous showy statistical compilations that document explosive economic, social, and cultural changes for the periods “after liberation,” “after independence,” and so forth (NSO 1996, 1998).
South Koreans’ success in condensing historical processes, however, does not always reflect the outcome of voluntary efforts but, in numerous instances, has simply resulted from asymmetrical international relations in politico-military power and cultural influence. For instance, no other factor was as crucial as the American military occupation during the post-liberation period for their overnight adoption of (Western-type) modern institutions in politics, economy, education, and so forth. Nowadays, even the postmodern culture has been instantly transposed onto South Koreans through internationally dependent media and commerce (Kang, M. 1999). Even in those areas in which voluntary efforts have been decisive, the targeted end results alone do not tell everything. For instance, if one drives between Seoul and Busan taking ten, five, or three hours respectively, the driver (and passengers) will feel differently about the trip in each case and the probability of experiencing accident and fatigue from driving cannot but differ as well. We should analyze South Koreans’ experience of overspeeding for development by focusing on the very fact of their overspeeding.
Space (place) condensation/abridgement (Dimension II) can be exemplified by the fact that the successive domination of South Korea by various external forces in the last century compelled the country to change in diverse aspects, ranging from political institutions to mass culture, under the direct influence of other world regions (societies), no matter what geographic distances and differences existed. After South Koreans were physically subdued by colonial or imperial external forces, many ideologies, institutions, and technologies engendered in dissimilar regional contexts were coerced onto them directly – that is, omitting or compacting the usual geographic or spatial requirements for inter-civilizational exchange and accommodation. Such geographic omission or spatial compacting constituted an abridgement or dismantlement of space. In particular, the Korean urbanization in the periods of colonial rule and capitalist industrialization was respectively a deepening process of external institutional imitation and economic dependency, so that the modern cities thereby created through space abridgement turned out to be utterly alien spaces disengaged from the indigenous civilization of Korea. As another customary evidence of space abridgement, most universities located in major cities function as the comprehensive, shopping mall-like outposts of the Western civilization.
The space condensation realized by South Koreans’ own will was accelerated in the 1990s under the full forces of informatization and globalization. Especially, the splendid development of the so-called ICT industry has placed South Korea at the rank of a very leader in informatization. Now, the abridgement or dismantlement of space by electronic communication mechanisms is a catchword for national development in the twenty-first century. With these changes combined, South Korea – a society where until only a few decades ago overseas travel used to be a luxury experience for a privileged minority – has enabled its citizens to have quasi-travel experiences of foreign (mostly Western) spaces even without moving overseas physically.
Time (era) compression/complication (Dimension III) involves the phenomena of intense competition, collision, disjuncture, articulation, and compounding between (post)modern elements (which have been generated as a result of time (era) condensation/abridgement and traditional elements (which have been either left unattended or intentionally preserved or reinstated) within a compact sociohistorical context. These phenomena, often dubbed “the simultaneity of non-simultaneous matters,” are usually observed in ideology, culture, and other non-material domains that have fairly complex conditions and processes of change.2 Particularly on the Korean peninsula where no indigenous social revolution helped to eradicate the feudal social structure, colonization and capitalist industrialization fell short of thoroughly permeating or replacing traditional values and culture. Besides, South Koreans’ rapidly extended life expectancy as a core facet of social development has elongated the lifespan of traditional values and culture along with that of the old generations who wish to maintain such values and culture.
Consequently, traditional, modern, and postmodern values and cultures have come to coexist so as to bring about inter-civilizational compression among dissimilar time zones. Such inter-temporal compression is also found in the economic arena where