Dramatic changes have taken place in sociopolitical value orientations in South Korea throughout the post-World War II period, primarily as a function of intergenerational change and rising levels of education. This article, by using the 1982 Korea Gallup Poll survey and the value change thesis, investigates the distribution of a number of fundamental social values and analyzes the extent to which these social values are persisting and/or changing and how they are related to South Koreans' political orientations, particularly protest potential. Also introduced and analyzed are two major types of Korean values prevalent in contemporary Korea: authoritarianism-libertarianism, and traditional versus modern morality. It is found that value change plays an important role in enhancing the potential for involvement in protest activities in South Korea.
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