A Qualitative Study of Korean Men Experiencing Stress Due to Nonprestigious Hakbeol

Confucian Educational Meritocracy

One core strategy of the Joseon Dynasty was strengthening a Confucian educational meritocracy, referred to as the measurement of individuals’ merits based on performance on national civic examinations (Deuchler, 1992; Koh, 2003; Lett, 1998). However, members in subjugated groups remained in their original class, and had access neither to examinations nor educational opportunities. Thus, only those who belonged to the privileged class (i.e., yangban class) tended to have access to upward mobility (Deuchler, 1992; Lett, 1998).

Moreover, some privileged groups enforced unfair systems, abused their power, and used their cultural capital (e.g., educational resources and assistance) to protect their family legacy by limiting the opportunities offered to disadvantaged people (Deuchler, 1992; J.-H. Jung, 2016; Koh, 2003). In contemporary Korean society, the term “hell Joseon” was coined to illustrate the younger generation’s sense of despair—expressed as hell—based on how difficult it is for Koreans to improve their social class standing (J. K. Park, 2016).

Filial Piety Expectations

Another strategy of the neo-Confucian Korean government was reforming society by imposing strict Confucian behaviors, such as a duty for male children (Deuchler, 1992; Koh, 2003). The son’s duty included demonstrating behaviors in accordance with Confucian values such as consulting with parents regarding important familial decisions, faithfully observing ceremonial occasions (e.g., ancestor worship, anniversaries, birthdays), and honoring and glorifying parents through their own achievements (Duncan, 1998).

To further reform the subjugated class, the Confucian ruling class (or the educational elites) distributed collections of stories about the importance of serving those in higher social positions (Kang, 2002; Yun, 2015). The government created and distributed the book Samganghaengsildo (as cited in Yun, 2015), which contains illustrations of exemplary behaviors of loyal subjects and devoted sons. The book was widely read, as it was easily accessible to the underprivileged and often illiterate lower social class members because the book included pictures and illustrations (Yun, 2015). Moreover, reward systems (e.g., reductions of tax and forced labor across generations, public recognition) were offered to those who demonstrated “exemplary” forms of filial piety (Kang, 2002; Yun, 2015). However, model behaviors were sometimes based on high standards that Korean men could not realistically attain, such as ignoring self-care and sacrificying personal needs and desires to serve their parents beyond their capacity/capability (Yun, 2015). As a result of being unable to obtain such extreme levels of filial piety, some Korean men in traditional society felt regret, guilt, and shame (Kang, 2002; Yun, 2015). Scholars also argued that some expectations for filial piety promoted by the ruling class might have served as the foundation for strengthening and legitimizing royal authority, such that obeying and serving such rulers would be seen as an extension of the service that sons were expected to offer their parents (Kang, 2002; Yun, 2015).

Studies have found that although filial piety can have a positive effect on the individual (e.g., feelings of gratitude), Korean students also tend to feel negative emotions (e.g., shame, guilt) related to not living up to the ideals of filial piety (Y.-S. Park, Kim, Ahn, & Lee, 2014). In a contemporary Korean context, studying hard is associated with students’ desire to please their parents (U. Kim & Park, 2006). Conversely, not studying hard and not meeting parental expectations are two common ways that individuals report failing to live up to the expectations of filial piety (Y.-S. Park et al., 2014). Overall, it is possible that the value placed by Korean students and parents on educational success may represent their ongoing goal of belonging to the higher social status group (i.e., the modern yangban class; Lett, 1998).

Participants and Sampling

Participants included 12 Korean men aged 19 to 26 years (M_age = 22.75 years; SD = 2.02). Each participant who expressed interest in the interview received a brief screening questionnaire to determine eligibility for the study. Participants returned their completed screening questionnaires via email indicating whether they met the following inclusion criteria: (a) identify as a Korean man; (b) attend a college or university, but not those institutions considered to be prestigious in Korea (i.e., one of the “SKY” universities); (c) identify his family background to be of the seo-min class; and (d) having experienced psychological stress in the past because of his hakbeol.

At the beginning of the interview, participants were encouraged to elaborate on their answers for criteria b and c because both questions involve subjective categorization. Regarding criterion b, participants often reported that their university was lesser-known despite its selective academic programs, perhaps because of their own or others’ perceptions that the universities are not as prestigious as others. Regarding criterion c, participants reportedly perceived that they were from the seo-min background because their families lived paycheck-to-paycheck, or because their parents’ social status and financial abilities were limited. Saturation of the sampled data was observed following the ninth interview. To ensure that redundancy had been fully reached, we conducted three additional interviews. No new information was forthcoming from additional participants; therefore, we discontinued participant recruitment after the 12th interview.

In terms of demographic characteristics, seven participants reported that neither of their parents had attended a 4-year college. In terms of family social class, five participants reported being from the low class, four from the low-middle class, and three from the middle class. Consistent with the concept of seo-min, participants’ parents were small business owners (e.g., owners of a small restaurant), unskilled laborers (e.g., bus driver, grocery clerk), or low-level office workers (e.g., office workers in a medium-size company).

Design and Procedures

Qualitative research methods were chosen for this study to search for themes relevant to the research question (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The university institutional review board approved study procedures. Participants were recruited in a Korean online educational and job-seeking community. Those who completed the research interview received a $20 gift card for their participation. Several participants shared a recruitment flyer with peers who might be interested in the study, who then contacted the lead researcher through email. A semistructured interview protocol developed by the lead researcher was used (see Appendix). The third author (W. M. L.)—a counseling psychologist in the United States with expertise in men, masculinity, social class, and classism—reviewed the interview protocol. The lead researcher (a native-speaking Korean woman) conducted one-on-one interviews with participants residing in Korea, over the phone in Korean. The interviews were audio-recorded and lasted 70 to 90 min. The interviewer documented her observations during and after each interview.

The data analysis team consisted of two Korean doctoral students in counseling psychology and a Korean undergraduate student in psychology. All three were women who resided in the United States during data analysis. Exposure to Korean education and culture varied across research team members. The first member of the research team completed all predoctoral education in Korea; the second member received K–12 and postsecondary education in the United States, with an upbringing that included both Korean and Korean-American cultures; and the third member received education in Korea prior to her U.S. college education.

Reflexivity

During data analysis, the research team members discussed their backgrounds and knowledge of hakbeol to decrease the influence of their personal biases (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). First, the research team members acknowledged that as women, they may not carry the same type of hakbeol pressure as Korean men. Yet, they were aware of overall hakbeol pressure on Korean people, including themselves. Specifically, the first member of the research team recognized Koreans’ varying perceptions of others based on their respective hakbeol. She acknowledged that because she had graduated from a well-known university in Korea, she received respect from other Koreans due to her prestigious hakbeol. In contrast, her relatives, friends, peer counselors, and clients who attended less prestigious universities described their struggle with other Koreans’ questioning and belittling comments about their ability and potential. The second member of the research team witnessed the ways in which family and friends with a Korean upbringing judged a person’s character, personality, family background, and work ethic based solely on the person’s educational background. As a Korean immigrant raised in the United States, she often heard Korean strangers tell her to “study hard and go to an Ivy League” and to “make her parents proud.” The third member of the research team experienced feeling misunderstood by Koreans who assumed that she was “not good enough” to attend a prestigious university either in Korea or in the United States.

During this discussion, research team members acknowledged their biases as women. Specifically, they discussed how men may be hesitant to discuss embarrassing personal information with women. The researchers also acknowledged that as women, their identities inherently limited their direct knowledge of Korean men. For instance, they discussed their discomfort and concerns when hearing harsh comments or excessive praise related to hakbeol directed at Korean men in their communities. In recognizing their own biases, the researchers realized that they might exaggerate or misconstrue the struggles that the participants experienced. To minimize the influence of these biases, the researchers began paying attention to counterexamples and the possibility that some participants may not be concerned about their hakbeol. The researchers also carefully approached data interpretation by recognizing that Korean men might avoid voicing their opinions about hakbeol in everyday interactions because of how they were socialized in Korean culture.

Data Analysis

General theme analysis was chosen because it is accessible and flexible. The method, for instance, does not rely on quantifiable measures of instances, but rather it allows researchers to search for themes that capture instances relevant to research questions (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Braun and Clarke’s (2006) guidelines were used to identify and report themes. The researchers followed specific procedures including (a) immersing themselves in the source data (e.g., repeated transcription reading, listening to interview recordings), (b) initial coding (e.g., highlighting segments of data), (c) searching for themes (e.g., combining different codes into an overarching theme), (d) reviewing themes (e.g., refining themes), (e) defining themes (e.g., identifying what each theme tells), and (f) reporting (e.g., illustrating vivid examples).

The researchers, all of whom are bilingual in Korean and English, transcribed the interviews in Korean. The lead researcher reviewed the audio recordings and transcripts to ensure their accuracy. The research team conducted face-to-face discussions about the interview transcription analysis each week for 6 months; each meeting lasted two to three hr. First, the researchers individually reviewed each transcription to gain a sense of the entire transcript and then marked a sentence, or sentences, within the transcript to note potentially significant statements (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). They then met to conduct initial coding by extracting significant statements. The researchers first identified significant statements in the Korean language. The researchers then translated these statements to English through iterative discussions using both Korean and English. One member of the research team translated and identified meaning units written in Korean to English; the other two back-translated these phrases with multiple English translations, and then discussed whether each meaning remained constant (Van Nes, Abma, Jonsson, & Deeg, 2010). This method was chosen to juxtapose the original Korean version with the multiple English versions of statements, instead of using a single English version of translated transcript (Van Nes et al., 2010). Additionally, the interviewer documented observations during and after each interview. Several observation notes seemed relevant to the aim, as well as context, of the research. For instance, she noted that participants used honorific Korean phrases when referring to people with prestigious hakbeol status, but they did not use the same language when referring to people with nonprestigious hakbeol status.

The researchers discussed interpretive disagreements until they established a consensus. They employed two perspectives to resolve disagreements: focusing on content and on process. In terms of content, researchers reviewed the individual statements from a participant’s holistic context to locate discrepancies. In terms of process, researchers identified power dynamics among the team members, given that age and seniority play a role in relational hierarchy in Korean culture. They also revisited their discussion about their biases, ultimately repeating these procedures with multiple revisions made to the coding. The researchers then grouped similar statements into different themes and identified the name of each theme with multiple refinements (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Finally, they used themes to synthesize the experiences of Korean participants related to hakbeol.

The Hakbeol System and Individual Success

This section discusses the degree to which the participants view the hakbeol system as contributing to their “success” or “failure.” Overall, the participants desired prestigious hakbeol because it is seen as a sign of success in Korea; however, the participants also recognized issues related to achieving this educational status. In the following section, two major ideas are discussed: (a) the hakbeol system as a means of success, as it entails that success is dictated by personal merit, and (b) critiques of the hakbeol system, as it entails that success is dictated by factors beyond personal merit.

Hakbeol and Filial Piety

Participants’ stories within this theme demonstrated how their personal hakbeol status contributes to the fulfillment of their filial piety expectations. Two relationships between participants’ nonprestigious hakbeol and filial piety were found: (a) having prestigious hakbeol meets filial piety expectations, and (b) there are ways to fulfill filial piety expectations beyond obtaining prestigious hakbeol.

Unwanted Everyday Experiences

Participants reported a pattern of unwanted everyday experiences based on their hakbeol status. Participants experienced these moments to varying degrees (ranging from annoyance to trauma). Moreover, participants anticipated that these unwanted everyday experiences would produce lifelong stress, suggesting that, for Koreans, hakbeol status is permanent. Heon-Soo recounted that “My hakbeol will follow me around the rest of my life like my second name.” Participants reported feeling social stress due to prejudice and obnoxious interpersonal comments, vocational anxiety, and struggles with self-worth due to being misunderstood, undervalued, and mistreated by others.

Coping

This section showcases various strategies that participants reported using to cope with the undesirable experiences of hakbeol. Overall, participants tried to cope by (a) distracting themselves from negative thoughts and feelings, (b) hiding their vulnerability from others, (c) focusing on personal growth, and (d) seeking out or finding communal support.

Summary of Findings

Overall, Korean men with nonprestigious hakbeol reported some degree of psychological discomfort due to the societal expectations placed on them. The broader Korean culture greatly influenced how they viewed their own abilities, work ethic, prospects for success, and expectations of filial piety. Although they noted that their challenging and uncomfortable experiences stem from Korean society’s fixation on the hakbeol status, they nonetheless desired a more prestigious hakbeol. They often experienced discrimination from others based on their own personal hakbeol, and they expressed concern as to whether it would be possible for them to move beyond the “deficit” of their education and achieve their career goals. They reported continuously coping with hakbeol-induced stress, and seeking out ways to recover and convey their own true potential, often overlooked both by themselves and by society.

Limitations

Despite efforts to decrease the influence of researcher bias, the researchers’ backgrounds as women may have influenced the processes of the study. For instance, when speaking to the female interviewer, social desirability and impression management may have influenced participants’ responses because of traditional male gender norms (e.g., showing self-reliance). Although steps were taken to enhance the trustworthiness of the findings, they should be interpreted with caution given that women researchers analyzed the data. Moreover, within the interview protocol, the researchers assumed that hakbeol status affected participants and their parents’ feelings without explicit inquiry about whether this was the case; hence, a framing effect may have influenced the results. Finally, the data were derived only from Korean men who were reportedly influenced by their hakbeol status and willing to discuss their hakbeol-related stress. Therefore, our findings may not be applicable to the experiences of all Korean men attending nonprestigious universities.

Implications in Korean Settings

In clinical settings, hakbeol issues could be relevant to clients who are dissatisfied with their hakbeol status or who plan to retake the college entrance examination, transfer to prestigious universities in Korea, or apply to internationally prestigious universities (J. Kim, 2008). It is important for counselors to help these students process their desire for higher hakbeol, explore any psychological distress (e.g., interpersonal, financial, or career stress), and discuss the frustrations of being pressured to succeed by society or family (J.-Y. Kim & Choi, 2003). It is also important for counselors to create a space for clients to raise their voices in criticism of the hakbeol system (J. Kim, 2008; Vera & Speight, 2003). As Vera and Speight (2003) suggested, educators and supervisors should use training settings to facilitate discussions about social justice issues such as how to eliminate hakbeol-based discrimination. These discussions could focus on social advocacy, counselor trainees’ socialization regarding Confucian values, the effects of hakbeol status, and how hakbeol may influence counseling sessions with clients from lesser-known universities. Educators could encourage counseling trainees to reflect on their own hakbeol status and to interact with individuals from diverse hakbeol backgrounds to better understand their own biases.

Counseling psychologists’ advocacy on behalf of Korean students, clients, and counselors with nonprestigious hakbeol is a crucial step in an effort to reduce the psychological and structural barriers derived from the hakbeol system (H. S. Kim & Park, 2006). First, resources should be equitably distributed to marginalized groups (Vera & Speight, 2003), including lesser-known universities. Currently, prestigious universities tend to allocate a generous level of financial and human resources to counseling services for their students (Oh, 2015). Students in lesser-known universities, however, can be underserved, despite their need for career and mental health services. Second, counseling psychologists could provide multicultural training for employers to help them recognize the potential influence of hakbeol-related bias on their practices, and develop recruitment systems that focus on applicants’ skills and work experiences (T. Jung, 2004). Furthermore, counseling psychologists should work toward eliminating discrimination in professional settings (Vera & Speight, 2003). One way that counseling agencies can do this is to consider whether counselors with less prestigious hakbeol experience marginalization in their organizations. Similarly, training programs need to critically reflect upon whether student applicants are deprived of any opportunities to train solely because of their disadvantaged hakbeol, regardless of their strong clinical and/or research skills and experience.

Implications in U.S. Settings

In clinical settings, counselors working with clients from Confucian cultural backgrounds could discuss whether concerns about their hakbeol status are related to their family, peers, or ethnic communities (e.g., “my parents wanted me to go to Ivy League” or “my peers in Korea commented that they’ve never heard of my university”; J. Kim, 2011). Counselors could discuss how clients’ cultural communities define men’s success, and how educational prestige plays a role in clients’ identity as men (Kimmel et al., 2005; Ng et al., 2008). In training settings, educators and supervisors could discuss the importance of educational achievement in Asian/Asian American culture beyond Confucian values, expounding upon the negative ramifications of the status quo (e.g., power and privilege held by an educational elite) embedded in Confucian cultural systems.

Future Research Directions

Research on the link between hakbeol and various psychological symptoms, such as depression, somatization, or anxiety, is warranted because it focuses on enhancing Korean men’s psychological and physical well-being (Chung & Lee, 2012). Researchers could also focus on hakbeol-induced stress by considering various familial factors such as family dynamics (e.g., birth order, sibling relationships) and socioeconomic resources (e.g., family legacy, hakbeol status of parents). Moreover, research could also explore the influence of hakbeol in other life domains, including dating and marriage. Additionally, researchers could examine the experiences of Korean women with hakbeol, considering, for instance, the different cultural messages women receive surrounding traditional female gender norms and expectations (e.g., the pressure to marry a successful man; Joo, 2010; J.-Y. Kim & Choi, 2003). Future research could also explore hakbeol-related psychological issues among Korean international students attending community colleges as well as other academic institutions that are less known to Koreans (e.g., small liberal arts colleges, state universities).

Future research could also be extended to non-Korean populations. First, researchers could investigate men from disadvantaged backgrounds who hope to become “self-made men” by obtaining a prestigious education. Researchers could also explore the various reasons that women and gender non-binary individuals strive to obtain a prestigious education; these individuals may seek to earn the acceptance or respect of others, or to cope with certain structural barriers (e.g., glass ceiling). In addition, an investigation of how racial and ethnic minority students seek educational prestige to achieve upward social mobility could offer a new vantage point from which to observe how achievement and upward mobility continue to be desired, regardless of background or borders.