Social Attitudes to Cross-Border Marriages in Korea and Taiwan

Abstract

This article aims to compare attitudes toward cross-border marriages in Korea and Taiwan using data from a unique questionnaire that was administered in both countries in 2007 and 2008. Moreover, this study proposes historical and political analyses alongside the conventional social quality approach, as a means of avoiding decontextualized interpretations of social development. Upon surveying indicators of social cohesion, inclusiveness, and empowerment based on a social quality framework, the results indicate that Taiwanese citizens show a lower level of social inclusiveness toward marriage migrants than Korean citizens show, though the Taiwanese show more social cohesion and empowerment than the latter. Social attitudes toward marriage migrants in the two countries imply that transnational marriages are likely to bring about various forms of social conflict, unless policies can be developed that account for the complex nature of such arrangements.