Reconstructing Marriage Perceptions Based on the Life Histories of Voluntarily Unmarried People in South Korea
AUTHOR : 이효선
INFORMATION : page. 1~21 / 2023 Vol.30 No.3
ABSTRACT
In this study, the life histories of two men and two women aged 20 to 50 years who voluntarily decided not to marry were collected to reconstruct their ideas about marriage. As a result, the decision of the participants who claimed to have voluntarily de-cided not to marry was not an autonomous one, but a decision that resulted from the influ-ence of others or the external environment. In addition, the lack of mutual recognition and communication experiences with parents during their life histories caused attachment problems. Thus, they preferred to remain alone in order not to be hurt in interpersonal relationships. Their conceptions of marriage appeared to be “a life that is comfortable for me alone” instead of “two together”. Therefore, this study criticizes South Korea's marriage and birth policies in response to the demographic and sociological crisis as purely eco-nomic support measures, and uses the method of biographical research to understand how each individual in society interacts with society and develops throughout the life course. The study also analyzes the demographic and social problems currently facing South Korean society from a sociological and philosophical perspective.