Abstract

As social issues of Korea get so serious that they seem to endanger the existence of the society, psychologists who have traditionally focused on individuals are showing interest in the study of social issues. Social issues considered important by Korean people involve environment, politics, and school education. As these problems are usually attributed to the Korean "national character", studies of national character were reviewed. Many of the pereonality characteristics held typically as Korean are associated with collectivism. Hie trouble of the Korean collectivism sems to lie in its exclusiveness; the "we"-group should be extended to include non-family members of the greater community. Two of the suggested programs for social reform were discussed: "Psychology of Culture Design"(Cha, 1994b) and "Modern Democratic Citizenship Education"(Chun et al, 1992). Cha maintains that "consciousness change"(cultural reform), which is widely considered as the cure for many social diseases, is in fact behavior modification of people through the application of principles of operational conditioning. However, this program may not be implemented, as the suggested "preparatory measures", the active support from the administrative bureaucrats, are unlikely to be taken. Only a democratic or democraticized state would actively set out to attack the social problems, especially those originating from political corruption. So principles and methods of democratic citizenship education(Chun et al, 1992) were discussed. But here also the authors concluded that the politial elite and school staff should be educated to act democratically, before the education program can be successfully enacted by them. It seems that people should guide and educate politicians and educators rather than be guided by them. In other words, civil movement is in order for the solution of social problems. It was argued that people participating in the movement should monitor and control the actions of the social and political elite and at the same time engage in self-criticisms to change their own attitude and behavior. As one of the successful examples, the environmental movement was described. The residents/citizens get sense of well-being and control through keeping their environment safe. They also realize that environment concerns everyone and its protection requires collective action, which fosters their sense of community. Such sense of well-being and sense of community may contribute to overcoming the exclusiveness of the Korean collectivism.