Risk or Totem?: Semantics of Child in Korean Risk Society

Abstract

In a risk society, intimacy falls under the category of rational management and individual reflexivities. Children are not an exception. This article attempts to shed light on this newly emerging figure of child in risk societalization of Korean society. We propose to grasp this figure of child as a risk-totem. For this, we refer to an important concept of Luhmann called self-observation of society. According to this insight, society observes itself through the mass media, sciences (sociology), and culture. In this context, we analyzed two major forms of self-observation of contemporary Korean risk society on the subject of child in particular: child abduction films and discourses on risk society. Through the examination of these two forms of self-observation of society, the semantics of child in a risk society are determined as a risk-totem.