Gender Conflict and Emotional Dynamics in Korean Society: Focusing on Discourses of Abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in the 2022 Presidential Election

Abstract

Conflict patterns in Korean society have changed from regional conflicts to generational conflicts and even gender conflicts. Among them, this paper tried to pay attention to gender conflict as a representative phenomenon leading to 'emotional conflict', and to observe the exercise, resistance, and reconstruction of ideology-instrumental violence in the process.The 20th presidential election in 2022 was an example of a new change in the topography of conflict in Korean society, and I executed a netography analysis focusing on the “Discourse on Abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family,” which triggered gender conflict. Theqoo, a representative online community for young women was participated and observed for 8 months and analyzed through Victor Turner's social drama model.As a result, starting with the pledge to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, social dramas in the online community showed a four-step structure of Breach-Crisis-Redress-Reintegration or Schism over time. Among them, internal members appeared to express political opinions through fandom strategies that can reconstruct their identity, share a sense of homogeneity, and reveal their identity through the Liminality and Communitas processes.