Development and Dream: On the Dynamics of K-Pop in Brazil

The penetration of K-Pop in Brazil has occurred in tandem with the unfolding of a process of social mobility in the country. The fans which K-Pop attracts in the country mostly stem from families who are part of this process of social mobility. K-Pop somehow resonates with these young people in search of a new social position, as their place in society is no longer that of their parents or grandparents. The brave new world that K-Pop offers may appeal to them especially as an index of future of upward mobility, glamour and consumption. K-Pop is itself the result of South Korean compressed modernity and its Brazilian fans have themselves been undergoing a process of social change in the past ten years. The relation between the latter process and the diffusion of K-Pop in the South American country is the focus of this article. K-Pop in Brazil is approached as a class-based and gendered phenomenon, which mobilizes a dream of society and lifestyle.