The Sociology of Hallyu Pop Culture

“This book gives fresh insights into how transnational flows of East Asian media culture have been organized by various social actors and industries, generated alternative media globalization, engendered cross-border dialogues, and fostered a cosmopolitan outlook. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the study of the “Korean Wave,” cultural globalization and mediated dialogue.”

—Koichi Iwabuchi, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, Monash University, Australia.

“This is an exceptional work about the "Korean Wave" (Hallyu) and multi-polar globalization of culture. While providing the context surrounding the emergence, promotion, and global diffusion of Hallyu, the authors also address it theoretically, tackling such emerging concepts as aesthetic capitalism, sweet power, and the theory of cosmopolitan elective affinities. A must-read book for understanding the past, present, and future of Hallyu!”

—Wonho Jang,Professor of Urban Sociology, University of Seoul, South Korea

Combining global, media, and cultural studies, this book analyzes the success of Hallyu, or the "Korean Wave” in the West, both at a macro and micro level, as an alternative pop culture globalization. This research investigates the capitalist ecosystem (formed by producers, institutions and the state), the soft power of Hallyu, and the reception among young people, using France as a case study, and placing it within the broader framework of the 'consumption of difference.'

Seen by French fans as a challenge to Western pop culture, Hallyu constitutes a material of choice for understanding the cosmopolitan apprenticeships linked to the consumption of cultural goods, and the use of these resources to build youth’s biographical trajectories.

The book will be relevant to researchers, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students in sociology, cultural studies, global studies, consumption and youth studies.

Vincenzo Cicchelli is Associate Professor at Université de Paris and Research Fellow at Centre Population et Développement (Université de Paris / IRD), France.

Sylvie Octobre is Researcher at Département des études, de la prospective et des statistiques, French Ministry of Culture, and Research Fellow at Centre Max Weber, France.