What is contemporary Korean society? With continuous political chaos, economical despotism by the chaebols, aggravating inequality, it seems that many think the Korean society is a “backward society.” However, it would be a great mistake to think it a “backward society.” Contemporary society generally uses western society after World War II as its criterion. If modern society is based on industrialization and capitalism, the key characteristics of contemporary society are the establishment of democracy and welfare to transcend the harmful effect of industrialization and capitalism. In other words, industrialization, capitalism, democracy, and welfare are the basis of a contemporary society, and contemporary Korean society is an “advanced society” that has all these components. Then what kind of “advanced society” is Korea?

...

The chapters in this book were written over a long period of time on many different subjects and have been bundled into one book to introduce and explain the various situations and issues of contemporary Korea. Social Science Korea (SSK) Research Team of Jeju National University (JNU), which is opening a new chapter in community-commons research in response to ecological crisis-risk society situations, supported the publication of this book tremendously. I sincerely hope the research of community-commons by JNU’s SSK Research Team achieves great results and becomes widely known around the world.