Lookism in the Korean Business Wolrd and the Role of Business Management By

Lookism in the Korean Business World and the Role of Business Management

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LOOKISM IN THE KOREAN BUSINESS WOLRD

AND THE ROLE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

SU HYUN KIM

______

A Thesis Submitted to the Honors College

In Partial Fulfillment of the Bachelor’s Degree With Honors in

Business Management

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

DECEMBER 2012

Approved by:

Dr. Cynthia Gilliland

Department of Management and Organizations

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I hereby grant to the University of Arizona Library the nonexclusive worldwide right to reproduce and distribute my dissertation or thesis and abstract (herein, the "licensed materials"), in whole or in part, in any and all media of distribution and in any format in existence now or developed in the future. I represent and warrant to the University of Arizona that the licensed materials are my original work, that I am the sole owner of all rights in and to the licensed materials, and that none of the licensed materials infringe or violate the rights of others. I further represent that I have obtained all necessary rights to permit the University of Arizona Library to reproduce and distribute any nonpublic third party software necessary to access, display, run or print my dissertation or thesis. I acknowledge that University of Arizona Library may elect not to distribute my dissertation or thesis in digital format if, in its reasonable judgment, it believes all such rights have not been secured.

Signed:______

Date: ______11.13.2012______

Abstract

Lookism is discrimination based on physical appearance. The word ‘Lookism’ is widely used to express unfairness of the reality that good-looking people generally receive higher wages and better evaluations. This paper explores Lookism in South

Korean business society. First, reasons for extreme Lookism in the country’s business world are analyzed. After the analysis, negative effects of Lookism in society in the present and in the future are explained. The paper concludes with explanation of the role of business management to eliminate Lookism in Korean business society and the importance of business management to develop the country’s business by reducing Lookism.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………...5

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………...6

Section 1: Analysis of Reasons for Lookism in South Korea Business World

Economic Development Since the 1990s…………………………………………………….7

Korean Face Culture…………………………………………………………………………………..9

Keen Competition in the Job Market…………………………………………………………11

Impact of Social Media……………………………………………………………………………..15

Collectivism That Brings ‘Lookism’ Boom…………………………………………………22

Section 2: Negative Impact of Lookism in the Present and the Future…………………...25

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………29

Work Cited………………………………………………………………………………………………………...32

Appendix 1………………………………………………………………………………………………………...38

Appendix 2………………………………………………………………………………………………………...40

Appendix 3………………………………………………………………………………………………………...41

Executive Summary

Lookism is when physical appearance becomes a primary standard to judge people.

This is another form of discrimination like Sexualism and Racism, but there is no law to prevent it. This paper will qualitatively investigate extreme Lookism in South

Korean business world and its impact. The first section of the paper provides a detailed analysis of the beginning of Lookism in the country and reasons for going extreme.

The second section of the paper explains about negative effects of Lookism in the present and in the future. It explains how Lookism has decreased the level of the country’s business by creating unfair standards of evaluating people and how it has ruined people’s thoughts by rationalizing discrimination.

The final section of the paper is the conclusion. It summarizes reasons for Lookism in South Korean business world and reemphasizes that Lookism is an unethical standard of evaluating individuals’ work accomplishment. In connection with the seriousness of Lookism in the country’s business society, the importance of better standards of business management is explained. The conclusion emphasizes urgency of removing Lookism in business and creating a fair standard to apply in society. Specific examples to exclude Lookism from competition in the job market are explained to demonstrate that it is possible to eliminate unfairness and improve the Korean business world.

Introduction

There are many research results that indicate that humans naturally judge each other based on their physical appearance. The results conclude that physical appearance matters in the job market (Hamermesh and Biddle). South Korean business society exactly reflects this result. The South Korean job market is extremely competitive so that appearance becomes a strong competitive advantage.

This situation is basically affected by Lookism1, discrimination based on physical appearance (Merriam-Webster). However, Lookism is not the only factor that has influenced South Korean job market.

Physical appearance has become a strong competitive advantage in South Korean business world since the 1990s because of economic growth, face culture, high competitiveness in the job market, social media, and collectivistic culture. This phenomenon has negative effects on Korean business world today. As plastic surgery develops more and citizens become wealthier, physical appearance will become a stronger competitive advantage in Korean business society, and it is going to have negative effects on the development of the country’s business.

Economic growth, face culture, extreme competitiveness, social media, and collectivistic culture: these factors reflect South Korea’s reality of business, culture, and the reason people think appearance as power in the business world. Through various types of research, I determine that Lookism in Korean business society has

1 Lookism: prejudice or discrimination based on physical appearance and especially physical appearance believed to fall short of societal notions of beauty

negative effects on employers, employees, and customers. Also, I predict that it is going to have negative effects in the business world in the future.

In section 1, I am going to explain why the five factors mentioned above are the main contributors for Lookism in South Korean business by analyzing how those factors have affected the relationship between appearance and success. In section 2,

I am going to explain why Lookism in today’s business has negative effects on employers, employees, and customers and on the future business in South Korea.

Section I: Analysis of Reasons for Lookism in South Korean Business World

Economic Development Since the 1990s

The relationship between outward appearance and the business world was strengthened in the 1990s in South Korea. From the 1970s to the 1980s, a military coup d’etat and industrialization happened in South Korea (Criticism of Social

Problems in South Korea). At that time, people did not have enough time and money to spend for their physical appearance. Also they did not have time to be interested in how other people look (Criticism of Social Problems in South Korea).

However, as South Korean economy became stable after the coup d’etat and industrialization, people started living in affluent circumstances (Criticism of Social

Problems in South Korea). This means that citizens started having more time to spare, and financially became stable. Wealth led people to be interested in beauty

and invest money in their looks. Having more time to spare also led citizens to observe and evaluate others’ outward appearance. As more people were interested in their looks, judgment about people based on appearance appeared more often.

Citizens’ judgment changed society: beauty started becoming an essential element for survival (Young Times). That is, business started requiring employess to good look at this point. (Moon).

In the business area, physical appearance has become one of requirements for employment since the 1990s. The first thing employers have considered is candidates’ looks. The format of Korean resume reflects this fact. A standard form of Korean resume has a small rectangular blank on the top of the left side for a candidate’s picture (Appendix 1). This indicates candidates’ look is the most important factors for determining who they are. It also reflects the fact that physical appearance is more important than education and work experience. Thus, the format of resume exactly demonstrates reality of the business world: outward appearance is more important than one’s education and experience. Also there is a well-known rumor that reflects Lookism in business society: while going over people’s resumes, employers see candidates’ pictures, and if they do not like the candidates’ look, they do not even read their resumes (Thejounimage). The format of resume and the rumor represent how Korean businesses emphasize the importance of people’s appearance.

Economic growth in the country started Lookism in Korean business society.

However, other factors have led the situation to go to extremes.

Korean Face Culture

Korean face culture has led Lookism in the business world to go extremes because the culture makes citizens significantly consider others’ judgment and evaluation about themselves more than anything. Face culture is one of South Korea’s representative cultures that individuals always think they have to care about others’ evaluations (Bae and Sae-Rom Shim). That is, they always care about how other people would think about them when they try to do something (Korean Language and Korean Culture).

Since citizens think that other people’s judgments of them are important, they emphasize outlook. According to the survey that KTV Korean Policy Broadcast took with 700 citizens from July 6th to July 7th, 2012, 36% answered that Lookism in

Korean business world has gone to extremes because people are conscious of being watched and evaluated in society (Kim). This result also indicates that people in face culture often judge something heavily based on ostensible decoration (Korean

Language and Korean Culture). Since the citizens emphasize demonstration, they count physical appearance as an important element for competition in society.

According to the research result from the University of Texas at Austin, physical appearance significantly influences first impression (Bryant, N/A). Also, a research

result published by Dr. Daniel S. Hamermesh and Amy M. Parker, there is a difference in teaching evaluation based on instructors’ physical appearance

(Hamermesh and Parker). This demonstrates that physical appearance affects evaluation about one’s productivity. The result that appearance influences one’s career and promotion is universally demonstrated many times, but Koreans especially emphasize people’s appearance even more because it determines success of business at the end (Naver Knowledge In).

For instance, employers think physical appearance is important because of empowerment2. Empowerment allows employees to have more power to make a decision but it also requires them to contact and meet customers more often by representing their organizations. That is, they have a responsibility to successfully demonstrate the organizations’ positive side and maintain a good reputation in front of competitors and customers. This means that employees become their organizations’ face while facing their customers. Therefore, employees’ first impression to customers is more important than their working abilities (Naver

Knowledge In).

Employees cannot show their maximum capacity if customers do not open their minds towards the employees. When employees’ first impression is not good, it is

2 Empowerment: Empowerment is the process of increasing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes. Central to this process are actions which both build individual and collective assets, and improve the efficiency and fairness of the organizational and institutional context which govern the use of these assets.

more difficult to lead customers to open their minds easily. If the employees are good looking, there is higher possibility of customers reacting positively to them, which shortens time and eases working process with better cooperation (Gonzales).

Most of all, good-looking employees represent their organizations’ abilities and reputation in Korean business society. That is, it reflects competitiveness to apply for the organizations. Since a number of people apply to get a job, the companies have many choices to select candidates who not only satisfy business knowledge and socialization ability, but also have good looks (Song). This is directly connected to the organizations’ reputation and power in Korean business society, so selecting good-looking employees is significant to business organizations. Thus, face culture has influenced Lookism in Korean business world.

Keen Competition in the Job Market

South Korea’s extreme competitiveness for gaining jobs has led people to emphasize the importance of physical appearance for differentiation to select people. The reason for differentiation is that job positions are limited in number while there are a number of candidates who want the positions.

South Korea is a small country that does not have abundant resources, so the country mostly develops human resources (JKN USA). According to Encyclopedia of the Nations, South Korea has an area of 98480 square kilometers (38023 square miles) (Encyclopedia of the Nations). This size is a little larger than that of the state of Indiana (Encyclopedia of the Nations). According to World Desk Reference, South

Korea has few resources, so it has to import all of its oil (World Desk Reference).

Also, the country has built a series of nuclear reactors for generating electricity

(World Desk Reference).

The data above reveals the country’s lack of resources and insufficient size of the land. This reflects that there is no variety in the job market so there are only few jobs available in the country (South Korea: Job Market). In this situation, the country’s high population density has increased competitiveness in the job market.

The population density (people nduper square kilometer) in South Korea was reported at 504.28 in 2010, according to a World Bank report (Trading Economics).

This density is 23rd highest in the world (Countries of the World).

Facts above explain why the country has a keen competition rate in the business world. A small country with a high population density that has few resources to use for development has mainly depended on human resources. In this environment, there are not enough jobs because of an insufficient land and capitals to expand the industry and to support research and development. The number of employees is limited to a small number even though there are a number of applications.

For example, the country only select about a thousand Korean Institute Certified

Public Accountants (KICPA) in a year when about ten thousand people apply for the exam. Table 1 demonstrates statistics from 2008 to 2012.

Table 1: KICPA Passing Rate from 2008 to 2012 Year 1st Exam 2nd Exam Applicant Examinee Passed Applicant Examinee Passed

Candidate Candidate 2012 11498 10498 2184 2011 12889 11910 1863 2865 2798 961 2010 11956 11103 1275 2835 2736 953 2009 9102 8431 1922 3256 3173 936 2008 6234 5734 1806 3163 3053 1040 * From 2007, only those who pass the first exam can take the second exam *Applicants are those who apply to take an exam, examinees are people who actually take the exam.

As shown above, more than 10,000 people have taken the exam since 2010, but less than 1000 people have passed the second exam. The passing rate varies from 8% to

10%. According to statistics from American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

(AICPA), an average passing rate of AICPA exam is about 49% (Passing rate). Even if both AICPA and KICPA do similar work, KICPA license is more competitive to obtain.

This reflects the difficulty of having jobs in Korea compared to the United States.

However, competitive rate for KICPA (10:1) is not even considered to be competitive in the country. Competition rate for joining Samsung is about 100:1 according to one Korean Answering blog that has accuracy of 99.37% (Simi Simi

Knowledge log). That is, only one of 1,000,000 candidates can join the company.

This competition rate accurately reflects extreme competitiveness in South Korean business world.

Because the business world is extremely competitive, society has counted physical appearance as one’s ability: the number of job is limited with too many outstanding candidates, so physical appearance has become a standard to select people.

According to an interview with Jae Wook Song, a nineteen-year-old who is a freshman in Korea University, the third best university in the country, says “I have

lived in South Korea for my entire life, and I have kept realizing the importance of physical appearance in the job market as I grow up. Our society is very competitive and thus business organizations always want ‘perfect’ people who have good looks, have a high Grade Point Average (GPA), and have various work experience. To become perfect people and to be chosen, people primarily have to manage and invest in their physical appearance. Appearance is definite competitive power and a chance to show self-management ability. This thought already became very common in society.” Lookism in business is not considered to be unfair in the country. People are accepting the reality and fit themselves in the situation for survival.

I decided to interview So Won Kim to know more about Lookism in Korean business because she is a college student who is around with many people who are looking for jobs and experiences frustration. So Won Kim, who is majoring in oriental medicine in Dae-geon University, one of the top oriental medicine schools, says “if I am a Chief Executive Officer in one organization, I would also prefer good-looking employees, and if I work related to a service industry, I would definitely consider one’s personal appearance as a primarily element to decide whether hiring or not.

Recently, plastic surgery boom in the country has become more extreme, and I do not think it has neither positive nor negative effects in society. Being addicted to the surgery is hazardous but if people who are not confident with their physical appearance can gain confidence, and if it contributes to their success in business, then I would prefer them to do the surgery.” An Interview with Kim reflects how

Koreans think Lookism in the business world is normal, and how they think appearance significantly determines success in overwhelmingly competitive society.

There are a number of intelligent candidates who have abundant business knowledge, and it is hard to decide whom to select from an employer’s perspective.

To limit the number, people started emphasizing physical appearance more

(Lookism Survey-Result Analysis Essay)(Social Science)). Thus, Lookism in business society is not only a result of Korean culture that reflects people’s preference, but a competitive environment that requires citizens to have more competitive power to find employment.

Impact of Social Media

Social media has kept leading people to think outstanding physical appearance is a privilege in society (Schneewein). Today, social media demonstrates trends, and thus it has power to change people’s ideas and society’s value (Magnier). That is, it significantly impacts people’s personal value. In South Korea, social media has constantly normalized Lookism in society, which influences business in the country.

I stayed in Korea for three months in this summer, and it was my first visit in two years. During those two years, many things changed, but most of all, I was able to feel the seriousness of Lookism in the country’s atmosphere. Even though there was criticism about Lookism in business society, the phenomenon seemed to become more extreme as competition for joining a job became more difficult. While

watching television programs, I realized that there were a number of programs that introduce how to become a beautiful lady and a handsome man to succeed in society and call good-looking people ‘special people,’ ‘distinguished people,’ or ‘better girls’

(Get It Beauty). Also, I was able to tell that about 90% of actors and actresses in

Television had plastic surgery: in reality, entertainment agents require all new entertainers to pay fees for plastic surgeries that the agents are going to provide them (Ha). After experiencing the phenomenon in the country, I truly realized impact of social media to Lookism in Korean business society and was able to find how it influences the country and how it is powerful. In this section, I am going to introduce the most representative examples for each argument and analyze them based on my experience, observation, interviews, and research in Korea.

Social media has made a standard of good-looking instead of accepting individuality of personal appearance, which stimulates citizens to follow the standard and leads society to demand people to meet the media’s standard (Berry). As I mentioned above, the majority of entertainers do plastic surgeries in Korea. The reason is to have ‘better appearance’ (Black). Then, what is ‘better appearance’ in Korea? How do we know its standard? The standard is from entertainers’ appearance.

Entertainers constantly do plastic surgeries and always change shapes of their features (Appendix 4). Recently, Western features are considered to be beautiful.

This means that the media shows entertainers who have big eyes, a high nose, a narrow jaw, and a small face and call them good-looking people. Thus, people want to look more ‘Westernized’ (Wong). The problem is that the media keeps showing

entertainers’ ‘Westernized’ faces and leads society to demand that type of appearance, but it is rare that Koreans originally have Western features. This causes discrimination based on physical appearance because people start admiring people who have Western features, which are special in the country. People started preferring Westernization because of the Internet (Kim). The Internet made a cultural exchange possible, and citizens were able to see American programs (Kim).

People discovered that Western appearance is different and more beautiful, which was the beginning of preferring Western features (In).

This discrimination impacts the business world, where mostly related to citizens’ success. According to interviews with ten Korean mothers who have teenage children, they invest about 2,000,000 Korean won ($1800 US Dollars) for their children’s plastic surgery on average. The reason that they spent money on the surgery is not only to make their children have better looking, but also make them successful in the future. Hye Won Choi, a forty-seven-old mother who has two teenage daughters and one son, says “last winter, I spent 4,200,000 Korean won

($4000 US Dollars) for my two daughters’ double eyelid surgery3. It was very expensive but kids wanted it so badly. Now, they are truly satisfied with their appearance after having ‘Westernized’ eyes. My second daughter is especially satisfied, because she is called ‘Goddess’ at school (laugh). Hope their better appearance contributes to their lives in the future when they go into business

3 Double Eyelid Surgery: it is the most common plastic surgery that Koreans do. It is a surgery that the skin around the eye is reshaped (blepharoplasty). The purpose of the procedure is to create an upper eyelid with a crease (i.e. "double eyelid") from an eyelid that is naturally without a crease (a.k.a. "single eyelid").

society and when they marry.” In Korea, people use words ‘Goddess’ and ‘God’ as a nickname to call good-looking people (Bbo-Bee). Those nicknames reflect how

Koreans think physical appearance is important and envy good-looking people. This situation influences business society because this makes people both demand and desire to achieve an originally impossible thing prior to achieving business goals.

This is reflected through a plastic surgery boom in the country. According to Coca

News, about 40% of Koreans do double eyelid surgery (Show Your Dream). Thus, social media’s impossible standard of appearance has led people to do plastic surgery for success.

Korean social media directly demonstrates a scenario that good-looking people are always forgiven because of their excellent physical appearance, which stimulates discrimination based on appearance in business society. In 2009, a drama ‘Boys over Flower’ was one of the most popular dramas in Korea (Naver Knowledge In).

The drama is about the love story of Jun-Pyo Gu, the most popular guy in school, and

Jan-Di Geum, the bravest girl in school. The beginning of the synopsis demonstrates the guy’s immature character: while delivering a student's dry cleaning, Jan-Di

Geum saves the life of a heavily bullied student at Shinwha high school, the most prestigious school in South Korea. Her actions became public and exposed the bullying within the school, leading the public to go against Shinhwa conglomerate group. To silence the public, Shinwha group offered Jan-Di a swimming scholarship to the high school. At the school, she heard about ‘F4’ and sees students' adoration and fixation with the four handsome boys in the group who are the richest and the

most powerful kids in the school and in the country. However, they used their power to terrorize students whom they do not like, and Jan-Di became enraged and confronted Jun-Pyo Gu, the leader of the bullying acts. Jun-Pyo declared a war on

Jan-Di and ordered the other students to bully her (Boys Over Flower Synopsis).

The beginning synopsis indicates that Jun-Pyo was the most popular guy at school even though he was the leader of bullying others. Instead of being blamed, he received students’ adoration. This demonstrates unjustified society in the story.

The other students’ adoration reflects their admiration to Jun-Pyo’s attractive physical appearance before criticizing his dictatorship. That is, the students overlooked his problematic personality and were in favor of him only because he was handsome. The drama was the second most popular television program in

2009 (Naver Knowledge In). It was especially popular to teenagers and college students, and the actor who acted Jun-Pyo became the top star through the drama

(Naver Knowledge In). This situation reflects that viewers are affected much by the synopsis and accept the story as a normal situation in society. Instead of being criticized about bad influence of the drama, society talks how successful the drama is and analyzes the key of the drama’s success. This implies society also feels that physical appearance can be a reason for being forgiven. This impacts students’ school lives, and the impact continues to their job place when they grow up. Since the media demonstrates Lookism as a justified phenomenon, people think it should be justified in their work places. There is one Korean website called ‘Nate’ that provides the Internet bulletin board that people upload pictures and share their

thoughts about particular issues (Nate). There are a number of comments that accept Lookism as normal in job places. For example, when one individual posts about discrimination based on appearance in work, people make sarcastic comments such as “physical appearance can cover every sin,” and “put your face as a weapon” (Nate). This reflects the impact of the media in business society and its extermination of Lookism in society.

Korean social media emphasizes that outstanding physical appearance is more important than one’s competence: this impacts Korean business world because competence is not fairly evaluated. There is one Korean movie “200 Pounds Beauty” which shows Lookism in the country’s work place. The main character, Hana, is an obese girl who is excellent at singing. However, she never has a chance to sing in front of people because of her appearance. She also never has a chance to fall in love with a guy because of the same reason. Hana ‘lip-syncs’ for one singer, Ah-mi, who has perfect appearance but is terrible at singing. Because of Hana’s beautiful voice,

Ah-mi becomes a top star. Ah-mi despises Hana because of her ugly appearance.

Besides, Ah-mi’s manager, Sang-joon, advises Ah-mi to ‘use’ Hana well to maintain her top position (Naver Movie). Hana accidentally overheard Sang-joon’s words and gets shocked, depressed, and thought about suicide: she loves Sang-joon. Hana disappears, does a number of plastic surgeries, and shows up in front of Sang-joon later. Hana introduces herself as Jenny, and Sang-joon does not recognize her. Hana becomes a top star after plastic surgeries, and Sang-joon falls in love with her. After

plastic surgeries, Hana lives a successful life, making her dream come true, and falls in love with Sang-joon.

The scenario demonstrates the importance of appearance in the business world.

The scene that Ah-mi despises Hana emphasizes how society prefers good-looking to excellent skills. Also, when Hana shows up after plastic surgeries, she is able to sing in front of the audience and becomes a top star. The only difference between

Hana and Jenny as a singer is physical appearance. It reflects the reality where people’s abilities are evaluated unfairly because of judgment based on physical appearance. A happy ending of the movie leads the audience to misunderstand that physical attractiveness is an enormous part of happiness and success. This misunderstanding let people keep claiming appearance is extremely important.

Social media also keeps expressing good-looking people easily gain what they want, which is an enormous part of happiness: this message makes people think better physical appearance brings more happiness and success in their lives. Success in modern society is related to economic stability, thus this standard influences determination of success in business society. Continuing with the movie “200

Pounds Beauty,” Sang-joon falls in love with Hana (Jenny) when she becomes a beautiful woman. The only difference between Hana and Jenny as a woman is appearance. Because of Hana’s over-weighted body, he does not even try to get to know her as a human. His attitude reflects how his love is affected by one’s appearance. Hana becomes happy because she is loved by the guy whom she loves

and by her fans. She is economically successful, and is receiving enough love. This change in her life totally depends on plastic surgeries. The message from the movie impacts the audience and makes them think appearance is a dominant factor for their success in many aspects and desire to have good-looking. The media’s constant message about Lookism in society has led people to live in the business world where good-looking is a strong competitive advantage.

Collectivism that Brings ‘Lookism’ Boom

Collectivism has led Lookism in Korean business world to go more extreme.

Collectivism is a representative characteristic of Korean culture, which emphasizes collective actions rather than individual identity (Merriam-Webster). To define its characteristics more clearly, I compared it to Individualism, the concept that all values and rights originate in individuals (Merriam-Webster). According to John

Berry, individualism and collectivism have contrasting characteristics (Berry, 7).

Table 1 demonstrates them.

Table 1: Collectivism and Individualism Individualism Collectivism • Self-Orientation • Collectivity-orientation • Pursuit of private interests • Pursuit if the common interests • Self-reliance of the collectivity • Competitiveness • Emphasis on the group of • Aggressive creativity community • Notwithstanding social pressures • The group as the source of value toward conformity • Commitment as the moral aspect • Insecurity of ideology • Individual responsibility; • Seeking group protection “consequences of action affect the • Low in creativity individual” • Not interested in competition • Individual Achievement • Social norms and duty defined by • Security in individual’s strength the group rather than pleasure

seeking • Conformity

‘Emphasis on the group of community’ and ‘pursuit if the common interests on the collectivity’ explain why Koreans are obsessed with physical attractiveness. First, emphasis on the community value stimulates citizens to follow the trend because the trend means that it is important in society. If many people care about their appearance, it becomes a trend, and it becomes tremendous as more and more people start following the trend as a result of emphasis on their group value. For example, if one person does a plastic surgery called “double eyelid surgery” to have a competitive advantage before applying for a job and successfully joins employment, people start thinking that the surgery contributed much to her success (Asian Eyelid Surgery). Then, they start doing the same surgery no matter how expensive it is and how well it fits for their appearance.

This indicates that the surgery creates a norm of society: the double eyelid surgery will improve beauty of physical appearance and contribute to competition in the job market.

The result is that the majority does the same surgery and people start accepting it as normal rather than criticizing since they value the group of community.

Secondly, people ‘pursue’ Lookism if it is the common interests of the collectivity

(Berry). If it is a trend, and people keep following it, they also want to involve in the movement to become a part of the group. This phenomenon contributes to rationalize discrimination based on appearance, because people follow the phenomenon of society even though it is unethical. Their attitude about Lookism in business society is accepting

rather than being exasperated. Then, the whole society’s interest becomes Lookism. The story below demonstrates the seriousness of the situation:

My first American friend to arrive in Korea moved here about four years ago. She came home for

a bit, and we asked her how Korea was. She reported that all the little Korean kids she was

teaching told her, “Oh Teacher, your head is so small!” Not knowing, at the time, how

appearance-obsessed Koreans can be and how self-conscious many Koreans are about the

(perceived) size of their faces, my friends and I thought this was hilariously bizarre. At this point

though, I’ve been in Korea long enough to a) not be surprised and b) actually understand why

Korean kids say things like this. Another friend of mine recently landed a new job teaching

elementary school kids near Seoul. She told me that on her first day all the Korean students were

excitedly talking about her nose, and gesturing with their hands about how perfectly shaped they

thought it was. She doesn’t speak much Korean, but she knew what was up when they were all

pointing at their faces and talking about her go (a nose in Korean). Her nose, according to

Koreans, is ideally “high.” For whatever reason this white girl has the “high nose” that Koreans

spend millions trying to surgically construct.

The story demonstrates how elementary school kids talk about the teacher’s physical appearance all the time. This accurately reflects Korean society is accepting the situation that appearance becomes one of the most important elements: observing and evaluating about people’s appearance become a part of a routine, and even children enjoy talking about others’ physical appearance. Therefore, collectivism has led Lookism in business society to become more extreme and settled the concept as a root of society.

Beginning with the economic development in the late 1900s, Lookism has become more extreme because of Korean face culture, keen competition in job markets, stimulation of social media, and collectivism. Korean business world is influenced much by the trend of

Lookism in the country with the combination of the five elements mentioned above.

Some people think Lookism in business society does not prevent the development of

Korean business, but it has negatively influenced business and will prevent the growth of

Korean business society. Section 2 explains reasons.

Section 2: Negative Impact of Lookism in the Present and the Future

Some people even argue that Lookism provides people a chance of improving themselves and expressing their individuality. They also claim that Lookism has contributed to the economic growth as a result of selling cosmetic products, plastic surgeries, and dramas with good-looking actors and actresses to neighbor countries (What are the negative impacts of Lookism in our society?). However, this result is the short-term gain and a small part of the country’s business. It might seem like Lookism has positively influenced the business world when considering a temporary profits from popular

‘Lookism-related’ products, but in the long-term, Lookism will distract the development of business society by leading people not to develop their talents and to have an immature standard for judging people.

Lookism causes a mental problem such as a plastic surgery addiction to a number of people as a result of judgment based on appearance and loss of confidence. According to

‘美 (Beauty),’ Korean professional plastic surgery portal site, 76% of Koreans who receive a plastic surgery are considering doing the surgery again, and 46% of them already experienced harmful side effects such as tearing and dryness after the ‘double eyelid

surgery’ (Yu). This reflects the level of addiction they are experiencing. According to

Yu’s statistics, those 76% are spending more than three hours a week to collect information about plastic surgeries (Yu). This is a result of Lookism in business that people experience as they graduate and have a job (Eisenhoward). One woman had an interview during the survey and said “I feel energetic every time I do plastic surgeries on my whole body. I feel like I am truly leading my life to be happy by overcoming the loss of confidence and not being afraid of others’ eyes” (Yu). Her interview indicates that she used to suffer from others’ judgment about her appearance and lost self-confidence. This is how she becomes addicted to plastic surgeries and to think changing her physical appearance is the way not to be laughed at and feel happy. Then, what is a goal of her life? Korean business society should notice that it has lost many individuals who have potentials to expand their knowledge as a result of society’s Lookism. If she spent three hours a week to read business articles and gain business experience, the country’s future of business would change. If citiznes spend their money on business development such as investing and purchasing market shares, the business world would develop more. In a perspective of business, people who are addicted to plastic surgeries are wasting their resources: instead of thinking about achieving their financial independence from parents through working, their goals have become making their appearance look more attractive.

Therefore, this phenomenon is a huge liability to the country’s business world, because the young generation does not know the importance of earning and spending money on meaningful and profitable events. Therefore, Lookism negatively affects the country’s business by isolating people’s point of view and blocking them from pondering to develop business skills.

Lookism in business society excludes talented and knowledgeable people who can become huge assets to the country’s business world. According to Dr. John Hunter and

Dr. Frank Schmidt’s psychological test, efficiency and motivation are maximized when characteristics of people and those of jobs are matched ("Who Is the Best Person for the

Job?"). For example, Dr. Kevin Murphy, a psychologist, suggested that cognitive ability should be more important in complex jobs, when individuals are new to the job, and when there are changes in the workplace that require workers to apply new methods

(“Who Is the Best Person for the Job?”). This implies that one’s appearance is not related much to determine people’s abilities to work and their competitive advantages. In reality of Korean business, people who have abilities to perform their work well have received disadvantages because of Lookism, which finally weakens Korean business’ competitive advantages. Hiring new people and complimenting employees often include the standard of their physical attractiveness (Kim). According to surveys from Korean Recruit, a professional recruiting research company, 70.1% of 300 people answered that appearance should be included when evaluating employees’ accomplishment (Kim). Besides, according to Beautiful World of Networking: Marketing Research Lab, 80% of 1113 people answered that they have experienced seeing good-looking people receiving better evaluation in their business organizations (Kim). The results are surprising that a majority in the business world applies physical appearance as a standard to examine individuals’ capacities. The evaluation based on physical attractiveness is not an effective way to measure one’s ability. This creates unfairness and prevents employees from being motivated to work. The unreasonable and unfair standard leads highly

knowledgeable people to receive low evaluation results relative to physically attractive people, and blocks them from being a leader of business society. If the society cannot find good leaders, the country’s business is going to lose competitive advantages.

Practically, outstanding appearance does not develop the country’s business, but power of knowledge does. If Korean business society keeps preferring good-looking people and unfairly treat other talented people, the level of the country’s business world will decline.

Lookism makes the youth think physical appearance is a reasonable standard for discrimination, which causes them to determine superiority based on one’s appearance: this blocks them from realizing the value of knowledge and networking, which isolates their relationships. They represent the future of the country and their attitude will harm the level of business in the country through immaturity and isolated networks. In 2012, the number of the youth who wish to become entertainers is over 100,000 (Ko). This is a result of popularity of K-Pop (Korean Pop) in the global world and Lookism (Ko).

Children often think entertainers are better than educators and business people after constantly experiencing Lookism in society and being influenced by luxurious outlook of entertainers (Park). This reaction demonstrates the young generation’s core value of their lives. They think having physical attractiveness is better than having honors, wealth, and knowledge. Bad singers with outstanding appearance are heroes to them and hence overlook those singer’s poor singing skills (Ko). This is another expression of discrimination based on appearance, because it shows that they are accepting physical attractiveness as a reasonable standard for evaluating the singers’ popularity and capacities. They keep thinking like the same when they become adults, which causes

immature demeanor when socializing. Lookism causes the youth to have a habit of making friends based on each other’s physical appearance, which isolates their relationships. For example, there is an episode that one middle-school student was made fun of because he was ‘chubby and ugly,’ and a teacher kept being silent about it (Gydda).

This is a serious problem of a school system that misses morality and character building.

The more serious problem is that this situation is repeated in college. There is an episode that one college student was blamed for being ‘ugly’ by their classmates (Gydda). This shows immaturity of students. College is a place to learn, study, and expand relationships with various people. Through the curriculum of college, students are supposed to be prepared to have professional attitudes to adjust in the business world.

However, if the behavior that discriminates people based on physical appearance continues, students will not become professional, and their thoughts and networks will be isolated. If the business world keeps having a characteristic of Lookism, students will keep thinking Lookism is reasonable. This will cause a huge loss to the business world.

If Korean business world keeps applying physical appearance as a standard to evaluate people’s abilities, people will try to fit themselves in the standard to survive, and the country’s business society will be filled with people who are not mature enough to realize the fact that strengths of growing business is coming from knowledge and networking, not appearance.

Conclusion

Lookism is not illegal, but is unethical and has negative consequences on the business world. The word ‘Lookism’ was identified in one article from New York Times and

started to use (Naver Knowledge-In). This fact indicates that judging based on physical appearance is a human nature, not Korean custom. However, the problem of Lookism in

Korea is serious because it is going more extreme. Extreme Lookism has come from many factors such as fast economic growth in the 1990s, face culture, kin competition in its job market, social media, and collectivism. Thus, removing Lookism in Korean business world is challenging because it is impossible to eliminate the country’s culture, history, and reality. Because of this reason, Lookism has kept existing in the country’s business society and threatening its business. Citizens have judged and discriminated each other based on physical appearance and evaluated one’s ability based on physical attractiveness. People must realize that it causes unfairness in the business world and immaturity of personality, which leads the country’s business to be declined by losing intelligent people and skills for cultivation.

The role of business management is significant in Korea to prevent the fall of business society. Business management should focus on eliminating Lookism and evaluating people based on their networking, knowledge, and accomplishment. People will fit themselves in the new standard to survive in an extremely competitive job market. For example, employers can require candidates not to put their photos on resumes and try a blind interview not to judge candidates based on physical appearance (Handiwork: Career

& Life Writing). By eliminating the possibility of receiving an advantage of good- looking, fairness of evaluation will be achieved, and people will be able to focus more on learning business knowledge instead of caring their appearance. Secondly, business management should prevent employees from mentioning about each other’s appearance

during work. A compliment is a good thing but a compliment on physical appearance has a high possibility to cause comparison with other people and to cause unbiased evaluation.

To distribute the new standard, large business organizations such as Hyundai, Samsung, and LG should start applying it in a timely manner to lead other organizations to follow.

Business management is in the center to make Lookism disappear in the country’s business world. Therefore, it has to lead citizens to realize Lookism’s negative effects on their business, which influences their happiness and lives.

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Appendix 1: South Korean Standard Resume Sample

Appendix 1 Continue: Example of Showing an Attached Headshot

Appendix 2

Table 1 in Korean(This result is translated in English)

Appendix 3: Korean Celebrities’ Repetitive Plastic Surgery

1. Actress Ah-Jung Kim’s Changing Face as a Result of Constant Plastic Surgery

2. Actress Da-Hae Lee’s Plastuc Surgery That Reflects a Changing Trend of Good- Looking

3. Actor Min-Ho Lee’s Plastic Surgery: a first surgery was mouth, and the second surgery was making a straight nose.