The Korean Family: A 'Luxury Good' - Growing Educational Differentials in Family Behavior

In this talk I will give a brief overview of how Korean families have changed over the last three decades, focusing on marriage, living arrangements, and divorce. Although falling marriage rates and rising divorce rates, along with the increase of the population living alone, are well known, less known is the divergence in those family behaviors between the more and less educated. Tracing family change differently for those at higher and lower ends of educational hierarchy highlights educational divergence in family behavior. It is increasingly difficult for those without a college degree to form and maintain a family in Korea, compared to their college-educated counterparts, making the Korean family as a ‘luxury good.’