Abstract

In Korean society, recently Adjumma(in general, lady in her thirties and forties) as a social category is despised even by most other women. A total of 189 subjects(76 married women & 113 female university students) participated in this study. The present study investigated social representations of Adjumma by paired comparison with Umma(mother), Samonim(high society lady), and Agassi(girl before marriage in her twenties). Also we conducted MDS analysis with the data which were constructed ranking scale developed by the authors. The results revealed that Adjumma was evaluated as less elegant, having no Chemyon(social face) and Nunchi(relational sensitivity) compared to Umma, lower social class than Samonim, whereas Adjumma was evaluated as more benevolent and having much Cheong(relational affection) than Samonim. However, when Adjumma was compared with Umma, she was evaluated as close to Samonim. Compared to Agassi, Adjumma was warmer, having much Cheong, more benevolent like mother's psychological characteristics. Consequently, Adjumma who may be in fact our mother, sister and wife is rather negattively stereotyped and despised by people who tend to dissociate from Adjumma. This phenomena reflects that social and sexual discrimination to women as a social category and object still persists in Korea.