Abstract

This study aims to examine theories of affective economy from the perspective of value theory, and to analyze the affective economy surrounding residents’ perception and practice of housing value(s) in the new town of Kwang-kyo. To this end, it re-reads Marx’s value theory and defines ‘exchange value’ as a historical and affective construct and a fundamentally speculative value. It then traces what kind of affective relations and forces constitute a speculative body oriented toward exchange value and how housing value is or is not reduced to exchange value in the daily lives of Kwang-kyo residents through an empirical analysis of their perceptions and practices around housing value. Kwang-kyo New Town is an area where prices have risen steeply among the first- and second-tier new towns, fulfilling the desire of residents to move up the residential hierarchy through residential mobility. While many residents consider housing value an asset and seek to increase it, this sometimes conflicts with the needs and demands of family members and the concrete everyday values of quality of life. The research analyzes how affects oscillate, connect or slip while incompletely reducing to the abstract exchange value by focusing on the keywords ‘gambling’, ‘luxury’ and ‘heritage’.