1970년대 후반 한국 대중사회 담론의 지형과 행방

Abstract

In the late 1970s, Discourses of Mass Society rose to prominence again, stemming from the theory of modern society and the debate of mass society in 1971. Since many scholars had developed and deepened the diverse mass society theory, new discourses on mass society in 1978-79 formed a new landscape that was different from the early 1970s. Many scholars in the field of humanities, social sciences and culture, participated in the discussion through journals such as "Phenomenon and Knowledge", "Literature and Intelligence" and "Creation and Criticism." They had not only a wariness on popular culture, but also a kind of confidence in the realization of mass society and a belief on the necessity of popularization of social fields. Especially, discourses on mass society started to function not as a fantasy on modernization and Americanism but as a sort of critical theory on Korean society. It was an alternative to find a standpoint of criticizing society for scholars who felt uncomfortable about Marxism and Revolution theory. They had to defend themselves against a new political dissident project and compete with the Minjung(people) theory, so they moved from discourse on mass society to theory on industrial society. The latter has a theoretical merit to deal with the problems of laborers: alienation of the oppressed people, a struggle of labor against capital, poverty and economic inequality. These discussions unintentionally played an important role to make a academic space for non-Marxist theory in 1980s.