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Inequality, Identity, and the Structure of Political Cleavages in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, 1996-2016

Author

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  • Carmen Durrer de La Sota

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, WIL - World Inequality Lab)

  • Amory Gethin

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, WIL - World Inequality Lab)

Abstract
This paper documents how democratization in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong since the 1980s has led to the materialization of growing political cleavages. Political integration, manifested by attitudes towards North Korea in South Korea, and towards mainland China in Hong Kong and Taiwan, have been a key issue structuring party competition and electoral behaviors in the three territories. In Hong Kong and South Korea, this issue has sharply divided old and new generations, albeit in a somewhat different way. In Hong Kong, younger cohorts are substantially more likely to vote for parties supporting lower political integration. In South Korea, older generations show significantly higher support for unification, but they are also much more likely to vote for conservatives, who firmly oppose any attempt to engage with the North Korean regime, a phenomenon rooted in decades of tensions and fiercely anticommunist regimes. In Taiwan, such a strong generational divide is absent, but the independence/unification cleavage has interacted with ethnicity: immigrants from mainland China and their descendants have been more supportive of the pro-unification Kuomintang than natives. This is also the case in Hong Kong, where sustained immigration from the mainland has come with the emergence of a strong anti-immigration cleavage. We argue that the strength of these cleavages and the lack of political mobilization of the working class for historical reasons have played a key role in explaining the near absence of class cleavages in all three territories. While economic concerns do play a role in nurturing mass mobilizations, cultural and political identities, rather than material concerns, seem to continue shaping party systems in East Asia.

Suggested Citation

  • Carmen Durrer de La Sota & Amory Gethin, 2021. "Inequality, Identity, and the Structure of Political Cleavages in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, 1996-2016," PSE Working Papers halshs-03165716, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-03165716
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03165716
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nak-Nyeon Kim, 2018. "Top Incomes in Korea: Update, 1933-2016"," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02878150, HAL.
    2. Thomas Piketty, 2018. "Brahmin Left vs Merchant Right: Rising Inequality & the Changing Structure of Political Conflict," Working Papers hal-02878211, HAL.
    3. Amory Gethin, 2020. "Extreme Inequality and the Structure of Political Cleavages in South Africa, 1994-2019," PSE Working Papers halshs-03022282, HAL.
    4. Amory Gethin & Thanasak Jenmana, 2021. "Democratization and the Construction of Class Cleavages in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, 1992-2019," World Inequality Lab Working Papers halshs-03215872, HAL.
    5. Min-Hua Chiang & Bernard Gerbier, 2013. "Cross-strait economic relations : recent development and implications for Taiwan," Post-Print halshs-00841385, HAL.
    6. Wonik Kim, 2010. "Does Class Matter? Social Cleavages in South Korea's Electoral Politics in the Era of Neoliberalism," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 589-616.
    7. Nak-Nyeon Kim, 2018. "Top Incomes in Korea: Update, 1933-2016"," Working Papers hal-02878150, HAL.
    8. Chiang, Min-Hua & Gerbier, Bernard, 2013. "Cross-Strait Economic Relations: Recent Development and Implications for Taiwan," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 13.
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    Cited by:

    1. Amory Gethin & Thanasak Jenmana, 2021. "Democratization and the Construction of Class Cleavages in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, 1992-2019," World Inequality Lab Working Papers halshs-03215872, HAL.
    2. Thomas Piketty & Li Yang, 2022. "Income and Wealth Inequality in Hong Kong, 1981–2020: The Rise of Pluto-Communism? [Top Wealth Shares in the UK over More than a Century]," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(4), pages 803-834.
    3. Amory Gethin, 2021. "Political Cleavages and the Representation of Social Inequalities in Japan 1953-2017," Working Papers halshs-03215888, HAL.

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