Identity & Beauty
Exploring the inquiry question: How does the growing trend in plastic surgery affect identity in South Korea?
While conducting the research about identity and plastic surgery the two topics do not really cross, but the topics that do cross paths is identity and looks. Going through the researches I've found a plethora of information that connects and answers the broad questions I have.
Conducting my research on identity first I turned to Identity as an Analytic Lens for Research in Education by James Gee Paul. In his article he describes the types of identity we as people have. He states that we have four types of identity that defines who we are as a person: Nature-identity, institution-identity, discourse identity, and affinity-identity (Gee, 100). Nature-identity is the identity that is given to people when they are born. For example, when someone is born and they are a girl that is their nature-identity, being a girl. Institution-identity is the identity that is put upon people by authorities in institutions. Discourse-identity is the identity that society puts upon people and how they are recognized. Affinity-identity is the identity that is formed by one's association within a group of people. The type of identity that relates most to this topic is discourse-identity because this identity is put on by how society sees someone.
Focusing on discourse-identity, this identity allows people to make judgments solely based on what they see and perceive without actually getting to know the person. This ties in with the topic of looks and outer appearances because these traits are purely judged and based on how someone looks and if someone's outer appearance doesn't match up to the "ideal" standards of beauty that society has created, this becomes a problem.
This is a problem that is most relevant in Western culture but it has also become a growing problem in South Korea. South Korea used to have a very different idea of what was considered to be beautiful. In the past the ideal look of a Korean woman was to look average or a bit over-weight which indicated wealth, but over the years the country has seen a change in looks (Bissell & Chung, 230). Since the modernization of South Korea, the society has adapted to the western cultural values and their norms. This led to the change of beauty standards in Korea. The beauty standards became more westernized and the women's desire to look more Caucasian grew (Bissell & Chung, 230) resulting into getting plastic surgery. Plastic surgery has become a growing trend in South Korea over the past couple of years in the attempt to look appealing to society and to conform to the generalized standards of beauty.
Over the years western culture has made a huge impact on the standards of beauty but in recent years, Korean pop culture has also made a drastic impact on the standards of beauty. Korean pop culture revolves around the topic of plastic surgery. Korean societies idolize the looks of most Korean actors, actresses, singers, models, and media socialites. By idolizing their looks, it impacts the way they perceive beauty and again this leads to plastic surgery.
The types of surgeries people in South Korea go for are usually double-eyelid surgeries (to make their eyes bigger), nose jobs (making their noses smaller and higher), and jaw contouring/shaving.
So how does this all tie in with identity?
The point I'm trying to make is to answer my own question. The question I started off with while researching the answer to this topic is, how plastic surgery affects identity in Korea? Going back to Gee, discourse-identity is the identity based of how people see us. In South Korean society judging someone based off how they look facial wise is very common. Before getting to know a person based off their personality or their smartness, people are already labeled as "ugly" or "pretty" and that becomes their discourse-identity and it usually sticks with that person. Having a label like that become their identity can be difficult and this leads to most young girls and guys in South Korea to wanting plastic surgery. They want to change their looks so they can also change their discourse-identity to "pretty" or "handsome."
But as people change their looks and discourse identity, do they become a whole new person with a different identity or can they keep their old identity?
Conducting my research on identity first I turned to Identity as an Analytic Lens for Research in Education by James Gee Paul. In his article he describes the types of identity we as people have. He states that we have four types of identity that defines who we are as a person: Nature-identity, institution-identity, discourse identity, and affinity-identity (Gee, 100). Nature-identity is the identity that is given to people when they are born. For example, when someone is born and they are a girl that is their nature-identity, being a girl. Institution-identity is the identity that is put upon people by authorities in institutions. Discourse-identity is the identity that society puts upon people and how they are recognized. Affinity-identity is the identity that is formed by one's association within a group of people. The type of identity that relates most to this topic is discourse-identity because this identity is put on by how society sees someone.
Focusing on discourse-identity, this identity allows people to make judgments solely based on what they see and perceive without actually getting to know the person. This ties in with the topic of looks and outer appearances because these traits are purely judged and based on how someone looks and if someone's outer appearance doesn't match up to the "ideal" standards of beauty that society has created, this becomes a problem.
This is a problem that is most relevant in Western culture but it has also become a growing problem in South Korea. South Korea used to have a very different idea of what was considered to be beautiful. In the past the ideal look of a Korean woman was to look average or a bit over-weight which indicated wealth, but over the years the country has seen a change in looks (Bissell & Chung, 230). Since the modernization of South Korea, the society has adapted to the western cultural values and their norms. This led to the change of beauty standards in Korea. The beauty standards became more westernized and the women's desire to look more Caucasian grew (Bissell & Chung, 230) resulting into getting plastic surgery. Plastic surgery has become a growing trend in South Korea over the past couple of years in the attempt to look appealing to society and to conform to the generalized standards of beauty.
Over the years western culture has made a huge impact on the standards of beauty but in recent years, Korean pop culture has also made a drastic impact on the standards of beauty. Korean pop culture revolves around the topic of plastic surgery. Korean societies idolize the looks of most Korean actors, actresses, singers, models, and media socialites. By idolizing their looks, it impacts the way they perceive beauty and again this leads to plastic surgery.
The types of surgeries people in South Korea go for are usually double-eyelid surgeries (to make their eyes bigger), nose jobs (making their noses smaller and higher), and jaw contouring/shaving.
So how does this all tie in with identity?
The point I'm trying to make is to answer my own question. The question I started off with while researching the answer to this topic is, how plastic surgery affects identity in Korea? Going back to Gee, discourse-identity is the identity based of how people see us. In South Korean society judging someone based off how they look facial wise is very common. Before getting to know a person based off their personality or their smartness, people are already labeled as "ugly" or "pretty" and that becomes their discourse-identity and it usually sticks with that person. Having a label like that become their identity can be difficult and this leads to most young girls and guys in South Korea to wanting plastic surgery. They want to change their looks so they can also change their discourse-identity to "pretty" or "handsome."
But as people change their looks and discourse identity, do they become a whole new person with a different identity or can they keep their old identity?