This study aims to analyze the cultural phenomenon of Hwa-byung in terms of emotion theory(emotive theory), exploring how discourses of related emotions are formed in contemporary Korean society. The ultimate goal of this is as follows: first, to review that ‘Hwa-byung’ is regularly represented as culture-related syndrome, and the center of discourse interpreting is linked to the category of ‘emotion'; and second, to suggest that the cultural pathology of Hwa-byung that spans individuals/society, health/disease narratives is emerging as an indicator of how the regime of emotions is organized in contemporary Korea.
Hwa-byung is represented as a disease/syndrome related to the ‘culture’ of Korea at present. The ‘culture' here has its meanings in a broad sense covering ‘Koreans', ‘Korean society' and ‘Korean culture’ and the culture of ‘feelings' related to them. The term ‘Hwa-byung’ itself continues to be used to express an emotional state and the narratives about the related emotions continue to have widespread currency in Korean society. Just as the metaphor of ‘Hwa-byung society’ suggests, Hwa-byung is interpreted as a mark of socio-cultural problems in Korea.
The present study thus analyzes the narrative of the mass media and its characteristics which reproduces ‘Hwa-byung’ as a culture-related syndrome, and examines how the ideas of ‘culture' and ‘emotion' are being (re)structured. Chapter 2 examines how the form of ‘culture' acts on the ‘emotion' narrative in the media discourse with Hwa-byung as a keyword and reviews the fact that emotives such as ‘depression', ‘anger', ‘anxiety' and ‘abhor' were connected to the socio-cultural phenomena pertaining to ‘Hwa-byung’. Based on this, Chapter 3 examines in detail what the sign of ‘Hwa-byung society' implies in the form of the related emotions being uttered. Moreover, this study points out the fact that the cultural signs of Hwa-byung were interpreted as ‘disease' due to the mental health discourse and therapeutic culture and critically examines how this discourse strengthens the logic of emotional regime.
Ultimately, the cultural signs of Hwa-byung are not only problems of mental health but also the cultural system that interprets ‘emotion' itself and the social, political effects of the emotional regime(culture) that requires ‘emotion' to be managed. Hwa-byung was repeatedly interpreted/translated into a ‘cultural phenomenon' with the effect of cultural codes and emotional regime operating at the point where relevant ‘emotions' are being uttered. Therefore, it is meaningful to study the cultural and political logic of the ‘regime of emotions' that forms contemporary Korean society by reviewing how the cultural phenomenon of Hwa-byung is mediated through ‘emotion'.