East Asian Patterns of Individualization and Its Consequences for Neighborhood Community Reconstruction

Abstract

This paper attempts to articulate the concepts of individualization and neighborhood community reconstruction in close relations as dual aspects of the same coin- considering the strong community reconstruction experience in East Asia. So far, seldom has it been attempted to draw out this reciprocal relation in empirical research. Individualization has been widely discussed but with negligible attention to community reconstruction, and vice versa. Against this, the author attempts to grasp individualization and community reconstruction as concomitant historical changes in East Asia. The findings are as follows: first, through a review of the main outcomes of the researches on individualization in the West and East Asia, it turned out that individualization in the East is "family-oriented" or "community-oriented" individualization, different from that of the one-way development in the West. Second, through a review of empirical researches on consequences of individualization on community life- such as mutual help and solidarity- it turned out that consequences are mostly negative in East Asia. This enforced individualization tends to increase the level of anxiety in everyday life while the integrative function of the community decreases, leading to neighborhood community reconstruction efforts for the desirable future of the city.