An Exploratory Study on the Deaths of Despair in Korea

Abstract

This study is an exploratory study that introduced the overall empirical and theoretical discussions on the concept of despair that began in the United States, and applied them to Korean society. It is important and urgent to apply the concept of hopeless death in a Korean context to the concept that seems to have accumulated influence over a long period of time, although it is somewhat unfamiliar. As a result of examining theoretical discussions on the derivation of the concept of despair and previous studies on despair conducted in the United States and Europe, many scholars agreed that socioeconomic changes lead to cumulative deprivation and unhealthy behavior. On the other hand, there was an important discovery in that countries such as Germany did not have a pattern of despair due to a stable social security system compared to the United States. Based on statistics on the cause of death or social survey data in Korea, the rate of suicide, drinking, and drug deaths over the past decade reached 12.4% of the total death data. Dangerous drinking and suicidal thoughts were on the decline, but negative responses to social isolation and overall life conditions were increasing. Based on this empirical analysis, diagnosis and policy implications for Korean society related to despair were discussed.