While the law has seldom been a central object of analysis in the
sociological study of South Korea, its importance has grown steadily. In
the context of planned economic development during the 1960s and
1970s, with the sacrifice of human rights causes and the rule of military
authoritarianism lasting until 1987, the rule of law in South Korean
society at that time was questionable. Diverse social movements seeking
political freedom, class and gender equality, and the restoration of justice
from historical wrongdoings, blossomed in the 1990s after the removal of
the authoritarian regime provided a highly conducive environment for
socio-legal studies. Law and Society in Korea will introduce panoramic
views of law and society studies in this postcolonial war-ridden society
that operated under the conditions of truce, and yet was both economically
and politically relatively successful. The ten chapters in this volume
examine these societal and historical conditions reflected in the law – or
that were shaped by the law – in various terms: law and development,
law and politics, colonialism and gender, past wrongdoings and legal
culture, public interest lawyering and judicial reform, particularly of legal
education. In dismantling the historical specificity of Korean and, perhaps,
East Asian societies and the universal frames of the field, these
chapters will provide novel views, theorisation and information about
South Korean law and society.