드라이저의 『씨스터 캐리』 : 도시와 소비문화

문상영 한국현대영미소설학회 1995 현대영미소설 Vol.2 No.-

Dreiser's Sister Carrie illustrates the popular culture of big cities such as Chicago and New York, whose "splendors" and "evils" were products of expanding industrial capitalism in late nineteenth-century America. In short, America was entering the stage of mass production, which necessarily led to mass consumption. Chicago and New York did not just provide Dreiser with the setting of the novel, but with its main theme, the image of a big city. When Chicago is perceived as "the great city" by a provincial girl like Carrie, the city obviously means a space of freedom as well as of new opportunities. To Carrie, the city itself is a grand department store, in which she likes touring from store to store. The image of the city, rather than its reality, influences her. The splendors of the city, however, are reserved only for the rich and the leisure class of people. Initially, this feeling of an outsider frustrates Carrie, but it also inspires her with the desire to become an insider by all means. Most importantly, Carrie is situated or caught between the nineteenth-century genteel tradition and the new century which will soon witness the birth of new images of women. As Thorstein Veblen argues, the cultural hegemony of the upper-class people affects every ladder of social classes, thus making working-class people internalize the values imposed on them from above. Sister Carrie shows the process of how Carrie emerges from the old ideology and adapts to a new environment of consumer culture by transforming herself into an independent career woman. Through the character of Ames, Dreiser seems to challenge the overwhelmingly materialistic values embodied in Carrie's success. Yet, Dreiser's moralistic warning against Carrie's endless desire at the end of the novel is rendered meaningless in that the consumer culture of Carrie's world is not a matter of choice by people living in it, as Walter Benn Michaels persuades us. Likewise, Georg Simmel provides us with an insight that money-mediated economy of the city is related to the creation in people of endless desire for new commodities. Thus, the self in consumer capitalism is defined by its endless desire. As is illustrated in the fate of Hurstwood, the lack of desire means death, the termination of functioning as a living being in a world of consumer capitalism. Unless we are handicapped by moralistic readings of Sister Carrie, it would not be so difficult to find that Sister Carrie is a representative text at the turn of the century that addresses the advent of consumer culture in America.

Misogyny in Faulkner's Sanctuary

문상영 연세대학교 영어영문학회 1994 영어영문학연구 Vol.16 No.-

It seems almost impossible for readers not to encounter the influence of popular culture on Faulkner's most important works. By this remark, I do not simply mean that Faulkner's works were heavily influenced by the culture in which he lived; rather, I argue that the author's specific relation to popular culture determined the character of his works.1) Among others, Sanctuary strikes me as a perfect example that corroborates my argument that Faulkner imbibed and employed in his work the existing gender prejudices which abound in his culture.

The Dialectic of Inner and Outer Sphere in Walden

문상영 연세대학교 영어영문학회 1991 영어영문학연구 Vol.12-13 No.-

Henry David Thoreau's Walden(1854) is by all means a crucial as well as controversial text in the nineteenth-century American literature. A spectrum of criticism ranging from the enthusiastic admirations to roundabout dismissals proves its undeniable status as one of the classics or canons of American literature. Before discussing Walden, I want to briefly focus on the changes or transitions occurred in the past decades in the critical perspectives in approaching this text. In the introduction of Twentieth Century Interpretations of Walden(which was published in 1968), Richard Ruland remarks as follows: Certainly a good four-fifths of the writing on Thoreau is either undiscriminating appreciations or sentimental testimonial. Only a fraction of it focuses on his books and essays. In this respect Thoreau has shared the fate of many American authors who have come in for fresh assessment during the second and third decades of this century-the man and his writings have seemed less important than the support they could lend to the presuppositions of the critic studying them.

THE EFFECTS OF MARKET OPENING ON THE KOREAN RETAIL INDUSTRY

문상영,하봉찬 한국경제학회 2009 The Korean Economic Review Vol.25 No.2

This paper studies whether the opening of the Korean retail industry in 1996 has positively affected productivity and efficiency in the retail industry over time. We have found that the productivity of firms in the Korean retail industry has improved significantly since the market opening and that market efficiency has increased in the sense that the higher productivity firms have a larger market share. However, this productivity improvement has not been observed uniformly among sectors. Rather, it has been concentrated at large discount stores, CVS, nonstore retailing, and other new venues. The new venues and concentrated markets have been structural changes in the traditional Korean retail market. This paper studies whether the opening of the Korean retail industry in 1996 has positively affected productivity and efficiency in the retail industry over time. We have found that the productivity of firms in the Korean retail industry has improved significantly since the market opening and that market efficiency has increased in the sense that the higher productivity firms have a larger market share. However, this productivity improvement has not been observed uniformly among sectors. Rather, it has been concentrated at large discount stores, CVS, nonstore retailing, and other new venues. The new venues and concentrated markets have been structural changes in the traditional Korean retail market.

역비논단 1960년대 미국 흑인문학 : 해방과 문화적 자립

문상영 역사문제연구소 1996 역사비평 Vol.- No.36

헤밍웨이의 『무기여 잘 있거라』: 반전 소설의 양상을 중심으로

문상영 국제언어인문학회 2015 인문언어 Vol.17 No.1

This paper attempts to read Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929) as an antiwar novel. Hemingway was seriously wounded while serving as a Red Cross ambulance driver in the Italian front during the First World War. In spite of his rather short war experience, Hemingway determined to write his experience into a novel about the First World War. After years of assiduous research, particularly about historical events in the Italian front, Hemingway wrote a novel that incorporated his own war experience. By the time he wrote A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway's earlier romantic and glorified view of the war evolved into a bitterly critical one that conveys the meaninglessness of the First World War, particularly stressing the unprecedented scale of human casualties and destruction brought on by the war. Like his previous work In Our Time (1925), A Farewell to Arms highlights the theme of separate peace. Frederic Henry deserts the war after witnessing the absurdity of the execution of Italian officers on the Tagliamento River. Deserting the war and finding no solace in religion or family, Frederic and Catherine Barkley seek their separate peace in their intense love against all odds. Catherine seems more brave and mature in love than Frederic who tends to be self-centered. The death of Catherine is at once tragic and controversial enough to invite female critics of Hemingway's gender representation. Nonetheless, my argument is that Hemingway, by focusing on the tragedy experienced by people embroiled in the war, succeeds in making his novel a representative American antiwar novel of the time.

최저임금의 변화가 창업에 미치는 효과 분석

문상영,김종호 한국자료분석학회 2022 한국자료분석학회 학술대회자료집 Vol.2021 No.2

본 연구는 GEM과 OECD의 2002~2020년 패널자료를 이용하여 시간당 실질 최저임금의 변화가 초기 창업활동에 참여하는 성인의 비중을 나타내는 TEA에 미치는 영향을 실증적으로 분석하였다. 본 연구에서는 다항식 모형의 유연성 제고를 위해 분수 다항식 회귀 모형을 사용하여 2차 회귀 모형과 분석결과를 비교하였다. 추정 결과에 따르면, 시간불변의 국가 특성이 통제된 상태에서 2차 회귀와 분수 다항식 회귀 모형 모두 창업과 최저임금 간에 역U자 형태의 상관관계가 존재함을 찾아냈다. 두 모형에서 창업과 최저임금의 상관관계 형태는 유사하였지만, 곡선의 꼭지 점 위치와 곡률에서는 차이를 보였다. 우선 창업이 극대화되는 시간당 최저임금 수준이 분수 다 항식 모형에서는 $5.3으로 2차 모형보다 $0.6 낮았다. 다음의 창업과 최저임금 간 상관관계의 부호가 동일하여도, 회귀 모형에 따라 최저임금 변화에 대한 창업의 반응 속도가 차이를 보였다. 구체적으로 분수 다항식 회귀 모형에서 최저임금이 꼭지점보다 낮은 수준에 있는 경우 최저임금상승에 따라 창업에 참여하는 성인의 비중이 2차 회귀 모형보다 빠르게 증가한다. 반면 최저임금이 꼭지점보다 높은 수준에 있는 경우 최저임금 상승에 따라 창업활동이 둔화되지만, 분수 다 항식 회귀 모형에서 창업이 2차 회귀 모형보다 완만하게 감소할 것으로 예측되었다.

분수 다항식 모형을 이용한 최저임금 변화의 창업에 대한 효과 분석

문상영,김종호 한국자료분석학회 2022 Journal of the Korean Data Analysis Society Vol.24 No.2

This study empirically analyzed the effect of changes in the minimum wage on start-ups using global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) and OECD national panel data. To explain the nonlinear relationship between start-ups and the minimum wage observed in the sample data, we used fractional polynomial regression model designed to increase the flexibility of the polynomial model. According to the empirical results, in both quadratic model and the fractional polynomial model of the minimum wage, start-up and the minimum wage showed an inverse U-shaped correlation. From the estimation results of the fractional polynomial, the minimum hourly wage for maximizing start-ups was $6.3, and it can be inferred that the increase in the minimum wage in Korea since 2016, when the minimum hourly wage was $6.5 or higher, may have dampened entrepreneurship motivation. The results of the fractional polynomial estimation showed a difference from quadratic model in the responsiveness of start-ups to changes in the minimum wage. In the fractional polynomial regression result, if the minimum wage was lower than the level of maximizing start-ups, start-ups increased rapidly as the minimum wage increased. On the other hand, if the minimum wage is higher than the level of maximizing start-ups, it is predicted that start-ups will gradually decrease as the minimum wage increases. The results of this study show that it is necessary to use a regression model with a flexible functional form such as fractional polynomial in explaining possible nonlinear relationship between the dependent variable and the explanatory variable. 본 연구는 글로벌 기업가정신 모니터(GEM)의 창업 활동, 창업에 대한 개인적 인식 및 사회적 가치 자료와 OECD의 시간당 실질 최저임금 자료를 이용해 최저임금의 변화가 창업에 미치는 영향을 실증적으로 분석하였다. 표본 자료에서 관찰된 창업과 최저임금 간 비선형 관계를 설명하기 위해 우리는 다항식 모형의 유연성을 높인 분수 다항식(fractional polynomial) 회귀 모형을 사용하였다. 분석 결과에 따르면 최저임금의 2차 모형과 분수 다항식 모형에서 모두 창업과 최저임금은 역U자형 상관관계를 보였다. 분수 다항식 추정 결과에서 창업이 극대화되는 시간당 최저임금은 $6.3였는데, 시간당 최저임금이 $6.5 이상이었던 2016년 이후 우리나라에서는 최저임금의 인상이 창업 의욕을 위축시켰을 것이라고 추론할 수 있다. 분수 다항식 추정 결과는 최저임금 변화에 반응하는 창업의 변화 속도에서도 2차 모형과 차이를 보였다. 분수 다항식 회귀 결과에서 창업을 최대로 하는 수준보다 최저임금이 낮으면 최저임금이 증가함에 따라 창업이 빠르게 증가하였다. 반면 창업을 최대로 하는 수준보다 최저임금이 높으면 최저임금이 증가함에 따라 창업이 완만하게 감소할 것으로 예측되었다. 본 연구 결과는 종속변수와 설명변수 간 비선형 관계를 설명함에 있어 분수 다항식과 같이 유연한 함수 형태를 갖춘 회귀 모형을 이용할 필요가 있음을 보여준다.

현대성의 체험과 미국적 정체성의 모색

문상영 영미문학연구회 1998 안과 밖 Vol.5 No.-

N/A

Bartleby, Gatsby and the American Nightmare

문상영 국제언어인문학회 2010 인문언어 Vol.12 No.2

Herman Melville's “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street” (1853) and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925) share a vision related to one of the most important themes of American literature, that is the American dream. More precisely, Melville and Fitzgerald share their vision of the American nightmare in terms of their disenchantment with, and their critique of, America's complacent self image. In this paper, I explore thematic links between Melville and Fitzgerald by highlighting and juxtaposing the sociohistorical contexts of their texts. Bartleby and Gatsby share a number of more than superficial features. The death of these characters represents their authors' critique of America, one about the mid-nineteenth-century and the other about the 1920s America respectively. Both Melville and Fitzgerald portrayed darker aspects of their society especially when their contemporaries were to a large extent imbued with optimistic beliefs in the progress of their nation undergoing territorial expansion and rapid industrialization (in Melville's case) or an unprecedented postwar economic boom (in Fitzgerald's case). In both texts, the portrayal of New York as a closed space in terms of class, race, and ethnicity, is significant not simply as the local setting of these works but also as a metonym for American society. In particular, both Melville and Fitzgerald seriously deal with issues such as poverty or the ever-growing gap between the rich and the poor in America. In other words, they address the core American ideals such as liberty, equality, and democracy.