[Citizen College] Inequality, Welfare State, and Happiness

On May 18, 2018, the 5th lecture of “Citizen College: Citizens Between Life and Knowledge” was held by Seongbuk Village Citizenship Education Center and the Korea University Peace and Democracy Institute(PDI). The 5th speaker was Professor Hyeok Yong Kwon of Political Science & International Relations Department, Korea University.

The topic of the lecture is “Inequality, Welfare State, and Happiness.” Professor examined how inequalities in political, economic and social factors affect individual happiness and what kind of welfare state is being addressed as a solution to this problem. He told that Inequalities include both income inequality and inequality in opportunity, and the controversy about the ‘gold spoon’ and the ‘dirt spoon’ in Korean society shows that the inequality of opportunity in Korean society is serious. Income inequality can also lead to unequal democracy because the ruling parties and governments are more responsive to the preferences of high-income earners. On the other hand, the concept of welfare state emerged as a system to prevent the problems caused by such inequality from the social level. The welfare state is divided into a liberal welfare state, a conservative welfare state, and a social democratic welfare state, each of which has pros and cons. In conclusion, Professor showed the implication that political economy will change the happiness of citizens according to the development of the welfare state and democratic political system which protect us from inequality. (Summary: Moon-Hyung Lee)