Sociology between Western Theory and Korean Reality: Accommodation, Tension and a Search for Alternatives

This article shows the historical phases of development of Korean sociology with a focus on its exposure to and interaction with western sociological thought. Towards explaining a disciplinary history of constant exposure, accommodation and criticism in regard to western social thought, the issues of universalism/particularism and theory/practice serve as focal points of discussion. While western sociology has provided an influential and persuasive perspective on what Koreans have experienced socially, politically and economically in this turbulent century, its incorporation into Koreans' intellectual life itself is quite a complex and perhaps interesting sociological phenomenon. The article ends with a discussion of Korea's unique experience of social, political and economic modernization in the 20th century as a fertile ground for new lines of sociological theorizing.