Is it compressed modernity or colonial modernity? South Korea today

Abstract

There are three queries that organise the book, The Logic of Compressed Modernity: first it traces the particular attributes of South Korean modernity; second, it suggests theories/perspectives that can be used to comprehend this modernity; third, it suggests that South Korea’s transition process is comparable to other regions of the world and particularly generalisable to countries in East Asia. The canvas of the book is extremely wide and it covers almost all attributes of modernity that organise the discussions on this theme - be it the economic, the political and the cultural. It also brings together discussions made by every scholar of note on modernity in the last two to three decades.