College rank and neo‐liberal subjectivity in South Korea: the burden of self‐development

Abstract This paper explores the ways in which contemporary college students in South Korea inhabit new discourses of human development in the context of South Korea’s neo‐liberal turn and globalization. By using ethnographic methods, we examine the lives of college students across three campuses, a top‐tier private school and two mid‐tier schools. The college students who we introduce all aspire to and accept the burden of managing their personal formation for a changing world. We note that the individuated way in which they narrate and take responsibility for their circumstances and predicaments is quite new and resonant with discussions of neo‐liberal subjectivity. We show, however, how the burden of self‐development is borne variously, according to differences in the ‘brand capital’ of the students’ university, gender, and family background. We argue that neo‐liberal subjectivity, highlighting personal ability, style, and responsibility, works to obscure escalating structural inequality in South Korea.