All about the capital: end of an era as university alumni networks lose their clout

Posted on : 2016-04-29 13:30 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Organization that resisted influence of networks announces disbandment, saying old system no longer has the same influence

“After 18 years of struggle, we intend to discontinue our activities as a group. This is not because alumni networks no longer play a role in Korean society, but rather because the role that they play has changed. School ties no longer function as the main way to acquire power.”

This is an excerpt from the declaration of disbandment read on Mar. 25 at the final general meeting of Anti-Hakbul, a group organized to combat the unofficial alumni networks, known as hakbul, that have long dominated South Korean society. Since its launch in 1998, the group has had a tremendous influence on South Koreans’ attitude toward education, calling for the standardization of universities and the breakup of Seoul National University, South Korea’s most prestigious university.

“The anxiety resulting from the breakdown of labor itself has eliminated even the pardonable practice of pushing for and helping out people from the same school. [. . .] Today, in 2016, when the monopoly of capital is more dominant than ever, alumni networks are no guarantee of power; indeed, they occasionally fail to work. Since the connection between school background and power has weakened, even those who have the right school background find it difficult to maintain a stable career,” Anti-Hakbul said in the statement.

Lee Cheol-ho
Lee Cheol-ho

The breakup of this group is being seen as a symbolic event marking the advent of a society in which the chances of class mobility are gradually decreasing and in which people inherit their lifestyle from the class they are born into. As illustrated by a placard carried by the graduate of a prestigious university last year that said “What’s the point of going to Yonsei University? I’m unemployed,” the assumption that good schools are the key to upward mobility is starting to erode.

“While the establishment is still based on school ties, the power of capital is even greater than that,” said Hong Se-hwa, former president of Anti-Hakbul. “There’s the sense now that it’s hard to get into the right school without the help of your parents, and that even if you do get in, a life of effort won’t be enough to make up for the parental gap.”

After a fierce debate, former president Lee Cheol-ho, 54, and about 300 members of the group decided to disband it, and they started preparing for disbandment last fall. In order to use up the group’s operating funds, they stopped collecting membership dues at the end of last year. After the final general meeting, the group’s phone line was disconnected as well. The group’s one full-time employee was also let go.

“Looking at the twenty-somethings in the group, it really struck me that Korea is no longer a society based on alumni network but rather a capitalist society,” said Lee during an interview with the Hankyoreh on Apr. 26.

“In the 1990s, the students attending universities at the peak of the educational pyramid joined our group and were eager to break the dominance of the alumni networks. But in recent years, when the dozen or so university students among our members tried to organize groups, they wouldn’t last more than three weeks. They would leave to get part-time jobs at convenience stores, to pay back their school loans or to work on their grades. I’m not blaming the kids, mind you,” Lee said.

The group’s declaration of dissolution has also become a talking point for students at Seoul National University, usually regarded as having the best alumni networks in South Korea. When an excerpt from the declaration were posted on SNU Life, an online community for Seoul National University, on Apr. 24, the post got the most hits for the day and set a record with 289 likes (as of Apr. 28).

The student at SNU who posted the excerpt added a note at the bottom that read, “To summarize, ‘dirt spoons’ who graduate from SKY schools are broke, so you should feel sorry for them instead of cutting them down. It’s not school ties or regional ties or family ties we should be bashing, but capital.” “Dirt spoons” is contemporary Korean slang for the lesser privileged, while SKY is an acronym for South Korea’s three best universities: SNU, Korea University and Yonsei University.

“It’s scary and discouraging to see what appears to be the end of the ladder of social mobility. The ladder of academic background has already been kicked down by capital,” said another.

A third commenter wrote, “This is the first time that I’ve felt with such horror that Korea is going down the tubes.”

“In a certain sense, you could say that we’re at the end of an era,” said Kim Sang-bong, a professor of philosophy at Chonnam National University who served as a member of the executive board and a secretary general for Anti-Hakbul in its early years. “We ought to be asking some fundamental questions about the university system itself.”

By Kim Mi-hyang, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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