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Stigma, Lifestyle, and Self in Later Life: The Meaning and Paradox of Older Men¡¯s Hang-Out Culture at Jongmyo Park
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(Vol.48 No.4 Winter 2008 pp.93~114)
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Chung Gene-Woong
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Abstract
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A large crowd of older men has been gathering at Jongmyo park in Seoul for
years. These older men engage in a variety of activities at the park. Due to the
boisterous nature of their activities, which I term ¡°hang-out culture,¡± the park
has often been dubbed an ¡°extraterritorial zone for the old¡± by the media,
and is now socially stigmatized as a place for older men. Despite the stigma,
however, certain lifestyle tastes shared among the park visitors still attract
these older men to the park. These traits can be seen as a continuity of the
lifestyle taste of the current generation of older men with an ¡°outdoor¡± occupational
background. The hang-out culture of the park nurtures a sense of
togetherness and peer group participation among the park visitors, which is
beneficial for better adjustment to old age. The park also provides a social
space congenial to rehearsing a positive selfhood which is so often discouraged
in later life. However, the sense of togetherness among the older people
at the park is not strong enough to suppress sudden dashes of desire to assert
their individuality. The dominant culture does not consider the hang-out culture
of the park as culturally legitimate. The cultural citizenship of the park¡¯s
hang-out culture is under contestation.
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| Keywords:
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aging, discrimination, hang-out culture, lifestyle, old age, subculture
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| About the author(s)
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Chung Gene-Woong is Assistant Professor in the Department of Cultural Anthropology
at Duksung Women¡¯s University. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998. His publications include ¡°Elders in the
Family and the Strain of the Discourse of Filial Piety¡± (2001). E-mail: gchung@duksung.
ac.kr.
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