The Beauty Industry and Understanding of Beauty in the Modern Popular Culture of South Korea

Student: Ershova maria

Faculty: Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs

Educational Programme: Asian Studies (Bachelor)

Year of Graduation: 2016

In my research I tried to analyse changes of the understanding of beauty in South Korea, which factors affected this process and which role does modern popular culture and beauty industry play in it. Beauty has a crucial meaning to Korean society. Society pays great attention to its appearance, since it’s vital for person’s self-esteem and also has connection with achieving social success. Such scrutiny to one’s look has been generally triggered by western influence and elaborate marketing policy of cosmetology companies and plastic surgery trends. Beauty industry nowadays is not just an integral part of each and every social strata of Korea but it also enables the government to make huge profits and has a positive impact on the state’s economic well being. Having conducted a research in this sphere I managed to define the modern concept of beauty and highlight the social importance of mass culture.

Student Theses at HSE must be completed in accordance with the University Rules and regulations specified by each educational programme.

Summaries of all theses must be published and made freely available on the HSE website.

The full text of a thesis can be published in open access on the HSE website only if the authoring student (copyright holder) agrees, or, if the thesis was written by a team of students, if all the co-authors (copyright holders) agree. After a thesis is published on the HSE website, it obtains the status of an online publication.

Student theses are objects of copyright and their use is subject to limitations in accordance with the Russian Federation’s law on intellectual property.

In the event that a thesis is quoted or otherwise used, reference to the author’s name and the source of quotation is required.

Search all student theses