• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.643-674
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• 2016

The purpose of present study is to discover the meaning of the Eogul(억울) which is known as a emotion from perceived unfairness. Even though Eogul has been mentioned as a cause of the Hwabyung in Korean culture there were few studies about it. Researchers designed two studies to provide clear understanding for this concept. In study 1, researchers conducted an open-ended questionnaire for 44 participants to deduce the cultural contexts and the whole experience on Eogul. Data were analyzed with grounded theory, the results were cross-checked by different evaluators. According to the analysis, Eogul is not only the negative feelings from the perceived unfairness, but also the motivations and behaviors to resolve the feelings. Especially, what makes Eogul culture-bounded could be related display rules on expressing emotions. We conducted study 2 to clarify the cultural attributes of Eogul in Korean culture. Variables that explain cultural differences were chosen and 123 participants were surveyed with them including the items developed for measuring Eogul. Cultural meanings and implications of Eogul were discussed with the results.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.251-272
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• 2018

There could be different ways of perception, emotions, and behaviors facing on unfair situation according to the culture background by which people have been affected. We investigated whether definition, feelings, and behaviors in 4 countries (Korea, China, Japan, and the US) would differ in terms of unfair situations. We further examined the relationship between new self-construal model (subjectivity-objectivity-autonomy model) and behaviors resulted from unfair situations. Three hundred seventeen participants (87 Koreans, 71 Chinese, 80 Japanese, and 79 Americans) took part in this research. We found that all countries defined unfair situation as "having a disadvantage or blame that one did not done by him or her" with the highest percentage, but there was a different percentage according to countries. Next, Chinese felt disappointment or betray from the situations highly while others expressed anger with the largest portion. In the area of behaviors, three countries in Asia answered "no behaviors" with the highest percentage while Americans mostly responded "direct expressions". In terms of self-construal model, subjective self was high in Chinese and Koreans while autonomy was high in Chinese and American. Japanese showed objective self with the highest. Implications and future research are discussed.