Youth Culture and the Future of Multiculturalism: K-pop Fandom in France and Globalizing Korean Media

Abstract

The South Korean government proclaimed a multicultural policy in 2008, which mainly follows French multiculturalism. However, Korean multicultural policy has been criticized because of its assimilation model and the top-down method. Like France, which is struggling with social disintegration and multicultural issues, South Korea encounters many diversity issues, such as social discrimination against minority groups and frequent disputes with other countries due to strong nationalism and racial prejudice described in Korean media. Ironically, young people from minority groups in France show strong fandom of South Korean popular music (K-pop) and culture. This study elucidated youth culture as a new vision of multiculturalism, examining the K-pop fandom in France. A postmodern ethnographic study of K-pop fans in France was conducted to examine the motivations and social circumstances of youth minorities living in banlieu (suburbs). It will be intriguing to discover how Korean pop culture and media are integrated into the identity politics of young French people and used as the method of cultural resistance against the mainstream culture. The struggles and strategies of intercultural exchanges by French youth illustrate a new perspective of multiculturalism envisioned by the marginalized people in terms of youth, ethnicity, and geography. © 2021 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.