Civic Activism in South Korea: Intertwining of Democracy and Neoliberalism

Speaker: Seungsook Moon, Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Vassar College

Dr. Seungsook Moon is Professor of Sociology at Vassar College where she served as Resident Director of London Program in Media and Culture, Chair of Sociology Department, and Director of the Asian Studies Program. She is the author of Civic Activism in South Korea: the Intertwining of Democracy and Neoliberalism (Columbia University Press, 2024), Militarized Modernity and Gendered Citizenship in South Korea (Duke University Press, 2005), and a co-editor/co-author/contributor of Over There: Living with the U.S. Military Empire from World War II to the Present (Duke University Press, 2010). The two older books were published in Korean and selected for 2017 list of Excellent Scholarly Books by the Korean Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the 2007 list of Ten-Books-Worth-Reading by the Korean Publication Ethics Commission, respectively.

As a political and cultural sociologist and scholar of gender studies specializing in South Korea, she has also published numerous articles in major journals on military service and militarism, gender & citizenship, social movement organizations, collective memories of late presidents, and cultural politics of food. Currently, she is working on a book project examining transnational politics of missile defense between the U.S. and South Korea. Professor Moon is a recipient of prestigious awards, including the inaugural endowed-chair visiting professorship (Sang-Kee Kim Visiting Professor of the Social Sciences) at Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University (2014-2015) and Fulbright Senior Scholar Award (2004-2005). For academic communities, she served as Associate Editor (2014-2016) and Korea Book Review Editor (2010-2014) of the Journal of Asian Studies (a flagship publication for the Association for Asian Studies) and has served on the Editorial Boards of Critical Military Studies, Korea Journal, Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, Gender & Society (a flagship journal of Sociologists for Women in Society), and Asian Women. For broader public engagements, she contributed to CNN International and was consulted by The Guardian, EFE Spain News Agency, El Pais, The Economist, South China Morning Post, El Periodico (Spain), Korea Herald (South Korea), and Weekendavisen (Denmark).

Professor Moon will speak about her new book, Civic Activism in South Korea: the Intertwining of Democracy and Neoliberalism (Columbia University Press, 2024) on Monday, March 9, 2026 at 4PM.

During this talk, Professor Moon will discuss her new book that illuminates complex ways in which neoliberalism simultaneously undermines and enables democracy in South Korea. The book demonstrates these contradictory interactions by focusing on three different types of "citizens' organizations": a large national advocacy organization run by professional staff activists, two medium-size local branches of a national feminist organization run by mostly volunteer women activists, and a small local organization run by volunteer activists with a focus on foreign migrants. Democracy and neoliberalism are major keywords that convey aspirations, challenges, and problems of our era, as well as globally practiced modes of ruling. As many societies in the world have undergone neoliberal transformation not only in the economy, but also in culture and politics, this case study has global implications for how to assess our daily lives and how to envision a better world.

PLEASE NOTE: For non-Columbia guests, registration is required to access the Morningside campus 24 hours prior to the event. After registering you will receive an email with a QR code that must be presented along with a government-issued ID (your name must match exactly the name registered for the event) at either the 116th Street & Broadway or 116th Street & Amsterdam gates for entry. Please register using a unique email address (one email address per registrant) by 12:00 PM on Sunday, March 8 for campus access.

Names will be submitted for QR codes 1-2 days prior to the event and subsequently reviewed. Registrants will receive an email from CU Guest Access with the QR code before or on the day of the event.

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