[Insight & Opinion] Three Keywords for Building a Better Society

Happiness, Opportunity, and Freedom: Interconnected Keys
Breaking Away from Concentration and Uniformity
Toward a Diverse Society Where Everyone Can Live the Life They Desire

A new government has taken office. There are high expectations that a variety of policies for a better society will be actively pursued. What should a better society, the one we aspire to, look like? Now is the perfect time to ask this question. There are countless conditions for a good society, but if I had to choose the three most important ones, considering the current situation in South Korea, I would select happiness, opportunity, and freedom.

First, happiness. Are we happy? According to the National Assembly Futures Institute's National Happiness Survey, the happiness level of Koreans is 5.6 out of 10. This suggests that people are not particularly happy. Given that South Korea ranks among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of economic standing out of more than 200 nations, this is both surprising and disappointing. However, it is understandable if we recall the saying that happiness is about frequency, not magnitude.

Second, opportunity. Do we have many opportunities? The number of opportunities seems to vary by era. Just over 60 years ago, Korean society was extremely poor and had few opportunities. From 1960 onward, for about 30 years, there was a period of rapid economic development, which created a boom in opportunities and jobs?a time of opportunity expansion. In recent years, however, as low economic growth has persisted, the number of new opportunities in our society has stagnated again. Creating more opportunities for all members of society, whether young or old, to work and participate is the most important task required by our times.

It is necessary to increase the absolute number of opportunities, but it is also important to find diverse opportunities that suit each individual. Currently, the problem is that the majority are all seeking the same limited number of identical opportunities. People’s perceptions and preferences for good universities, good majors, good companies, and good jobs are too similar and concentrated in one direction. There is only one eye of a needle to pass through, but hundreds of threads trying to fit. Despite the existence of opportunities, this concentration has ultimately resulted in a society with reduced opportunities. The shortcut to creating more opportunities and building a better society is for each person to resist following the crowd and to strive to find opportunities that are right for themselves.

Third, freedom. Do we have much freedom? Overall, yes. We have a great deal of freedom. This becomes even clearer when compared historically. During the Joseon Dynasty, when slaves made up 30% of the population, during the Japanese colonial era when we could not even use our own language, during the devastation of the Korean War, and in the poverty-stricken 1950s and 1960s, there was little freedom. In comparison, freedom abounds today. Yet, we often do not feel it. In reality, we have sufficient freedom, but there are many times when it does not feel that way. One major reason is that Korean society is a society of concentration. The number of desirable opportunities is limited, but too many people pursue the same ones, making freedom seem relatively lacking. Swept up in the concentration of opportunities, we end up restricting and confining our own freedom.

If this logic is correct, then our society already possesses the three major conditions for a good society in abundance. We simply ignore them. There is a need to break free from the concentration of opportunities and to seek out opportunities unique to each individual. The same applies to freedom. The era of diversity, where each person designs and builds the life they want according to their own individuality, is the future vision that South Korea should pursue. As John Stuart Mill said, the freedom to express one's individuality is the most important and fundamental element for a happy life. In the end, the three keywords for building a better society?opportunity, freedom, and happiness?are interconnected as a single key.

Kim Hyungon, Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of National Policy, Chungnam National University; Former President of the National Assembly Futures Institute

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