This study analyzes the cause of political protest based on 'Taegeukgi rally'. According to previous studies, citizens' participation in political protests is based on psychological factors such as accumulation of political, economic, and social compl...
This study analyzes the cause of political protest based on 'Taegeukgi rally'. According to previous studies, citizens' participation in political protests is based on psychological factors such as accumulation of political, economic, and social complaints or relative deprivation. However, in this study, existing viewpoints did not fully explain the reason for the emergence of ‘Taegeukgi rally’, a new analysis framework called 'identity' was applied.
As a result of the socio-demographic characteristics of participants of ‘Taegeukgi rally’ using the Korean identity survey in 2015, they were generally high in age and low in income level and education level. In addition, there were many freelancers relatively freely involved in demonstrations such as self-employed or housewives, and most of them were from Chungcheong and Metropolitan areas. Political tendencies were ideologically inclined to support the Saenuri party (conservative party) and showed conservative tendencies that supported anti-communism, authoritarianism, and economic liberalism.
As a result of the face-to-face interviews, the identity of the participants of the ‘Taegeukgi rally’ was analyzed based on the ‘pride’ that they were the main players in the nation's development. This identity has been maintained through President Park Geun-hye, but they face a crisis of identity loss due to impeachment. Therefore, in this study, it was considered that the crisis of identity was the root cause of their participation in ‘Taegeukgi rally’.
The process of the threat of the identity of participant of ‘Taegeukgi rally’ leads to the participation of the demonstration, using the framework of 'identity emergency' and 'threatening emergency'. As a result of the analysis using the framework, participants of ‘Taegeukgi rally’ faced a situation where their identity, which was represented by Park Geun-hye, was threatened by impeachment. Therefore, they felt that if this situation was not resolved, this would lead to the denial of their identity, and they continued the ‘Taegukgi rally’.
The conclusion of this study is that there are political identity groups formed by various types of historical experiences in one society. It can be concluded that the identity group in the situation where the identity is threatened goes to the political demonstration. Therefore, this study revealed the cause of continuing 'Taegeukgi rally' which is difficult to explain in the frame of existing research. Furthermore, this paper pays attention to the influence of the 'identity' factor, which provides a new meaningful perspective, as a cause of political protest.