Material and spiritual well-being
What country has the most golf courses? It’s the USA with about 17,000 courses, which makes up almost half of all the golf courses in the world. The second is Japan, with about 3,000 courses. Korea has only about 800. Which country, then, has the largest market for golf apparel? Surprisingly, it’s Korea, which owns almost half of the total worldwide market value ($8.87 billion) and is two times bigger than that of the U.S., according to the golf research firm Golf Datatech.
How do you explain such a craze for golf fashion by Koreans? Golf is considered a luxury sport in Korea, and it is the desire of Korean golfers to look good, show off their status by donning expensive clothes and using branded golf gear. Once I went to a golf course in Korea wearing shorts and clubs bought from Costco, like I used to do in the U.S., and was met with some oddly scornful stares.
Hiking is very popular in Korea. Korea has really beautiful and accessible mountains all over the country. Hiking in Korea is also easy, because there are well-maintained paths, waterholes, restrooms, and other amenities in mountain parks. But if you go hiking, you will often see Korean hikers dressed and equipped with gear that looks more suited for climbing Mount Everest. For an easy and comfortable stroll along the hiking paths, they overdress themselves with professional mountain climbing wear. Why? Again, doing so may make them look fancy to others, so they think.
In Korea, how you look to others is important. People like comparing themselves to each other and struggle to measure up better, whether it is clothing, money, looks or other possessions. They also like to compare the school performances and careers of their children, trying to figure out who’s more successful in life. In other words, one’s identity and worth are based more on how you think others perceive you, than how you perceive yourself.
Contemporary Korea is a society of strong materialism and consumerism. A reputable survey found that Koreans are the most materialistic people among developed countries. Pew Research’s 2021 opinion poll shows that Korea is the only country where people chose “material well-being” as the most meaningful value in life. People in almost all other countries chose “family” as their most important value.
In a materialistic society, one’s self-worth is often decided by what they consume and how they look. Granted, such a tendency is observed in other capitalist countries of the world, but it is more pronounced in modern Korea. Observers often attribute this to Korea's rapid transition from poverty to prosperity within a remarkably short period. The fast economic success was achieved through fierce competition, and people have been taught to compare themselves to others and beat them. Add to that the country’s collectivism in which one constantly desires to belong to a group and does not want to deviate from group norms; also add the traditions of Confucianism in which individuals are taught to be conscious of their behavior toward others. Then you have a recipe for Korean materialism where people consume expensive goods and adorn themselves with brand clothes and beauty products so that they do not lag behind the others in the group they belong to.
As such, luxury brands are very popular in Korea as a marker of status. That’s why the designer golf apparel market in Korea is the biggest in the world. And that’s why Louis Vuitton handbags have the moniker of “3-second bag” in Korea, as luxury handbags can be spotted every 3 seconds on the major streets of Seoul.
I am not here to denounce materialism and preach about the importance of one’s inner values. Being financially free and pampering oneself with nice stuff provides us with wonderful feelings. It boosts our confidence. Yearning for a high quality of life is a natural desire for many of us. But a relentless pursuit of material possessions and constant comparisons with others may lead to a lowered sense of self-worth and dissatisfaction with life, as a slew of psychological research suggests. We will also be living in a bleak and inhumane society where genuine human connections are lost, if our worth is mostly determined by the possessions we have. Do we want to live in such a society? A balance between material and spiritual wealth is needed for the betterment of society.
Min Seong-jae (smin@pace.edu) is a professor of communication and media studies at Pace University in New York. He is a 2023–24 Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Korea.