5·18 기억의 감정정치 : 기억-공감구조의 메타분석 = The Emotional Politics of the May 18 Memory: A Meta-Content Analysis of Memory–Empathy Dynamics

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement constitutes a foundational element of Korea’s collective memory, functioning not only as a historical event but also as a site of emotional politics where affective processes and emotions intersect. Although previous research has examined the political meanings, cultural representations, and affective dimensions of May 18, systematic analyses of the mechanisms through which memory translates into empathy remain limited. To address this gap, this study conducts a meta-content analysis of 46 academic works published between 1990 and 2025. Using a memory–empathy coding framework, three dimensions of memory(memory centrality, meaning-making, and affective memory) and three dimensions of empathy(affective analysis, memory-to-empathy pathways, and empathy intensity) are quantitatively coded to examine their structural relationships. The findings reveal that memory centrality and meaning-making show no statistically significant association with empathy, whereas affective memory exerts strong and consistent effects across all dimensions of empathic response. Furthermore, the high correlations between empathy indicators and the Memory–Empathy Index(ME Index) suggest that scholarship on May 18 has increasingly shifted toward an affect-centered structure of emotional politics, in which affective memory plays a central role in shaping and expanding empathic engagement.