Genealogical Traces of Populism and Multiple Typologies of Populist Orientation in South Korea

Abstract

This paper is aimed at two goals. The first is to outline major genealogical traces of populism in South Korea. The second is to develop multiple typologies of populist citizens. The first is speculative and comprehensive, while the latter is analytic and empirical. The major findings of the empirical analysis show significant attitudinal differences 1) between two groups of citizens: populist and conventionalist; 2) between two groups within populism, that is, power-oriented and public-oriented populist citizens; 3) between the neo-liberal populist and the welfare populist; and finally, 4) between the candlelight populist and the national flag populist. It is also found 5) that the multiple typologies of populist orientations are closely interrelated to merge into two distinct streams: one is conservative and the other is progressive. These findings yield many political implications that require further research and reflection.