Meritocracy’s Children

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Millennials and Gen Z have come of age in a divided world where faith in a better tomorrow is increasingly fragile. And yet, they are still expected to follow a linear progression from school to work to family like their mothers and fathers. Focusing on Seoul and Tokyo, Meritocracy’s Children traces the gap between young adults’ expectations and their lived realities, revealing what they see as unjust—and what they accept. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, Yuki Asahina shows that young adults in Tokyo tend toward resignation, while their counterparts in Seoul experience a sharper sense of deprivation. Across education, employment, and gender relations, abrupt shifts in opportunities in Seoul have fostered a deep sense of betrayal, whereas more gradual transformations in Tokyo have led young adults to see inequality as natural. By linking these differences to culture, social structure, and institutions, the book offers fresh insight into both the nature of social inequality and the zeitgeist of younger generations in contemporary South Korea and Japan.