[WORD_ON_THE_WEB] 'There’s no justice and fairness anymore'

One in five young Koreans believe that effort doesn’t lead to success.

According to a World Value survey conducted globally from 2016 to 2020, the current generation of young Koreans are significantly more pessimistic about the world and their place in it than previous generations.

Compared to the 1990 results of the same survey, the percentage of young Koreans with pessimistic views on social fairness was 2.48 times higher.

This is a sharp comparison from the average global dropping from 16.0 percent to 14.7 percent in the same period.

The numbers show that Generation Z, born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s, feel more social injustice than earlier generations.

#obvious_results
“Your background decides your whole life nowadays.”
“The world expects you to be skilled in corruption and crime, and forging and expediency are so common that it’s a norm.”

#more_than_the_numbers
“The number is smaller than I thought. I thought it would be one in every two to three people.”
“It’s not one in five people. More than four-fifths of Koreans won’t be able to make it. There’s no justice and fairness anymore in this society.”

#not_just_the_youth
“In reality, the older generations are having just as hard a time as the youngsters.”
“It’s not just Generation Z. Everyone without a house feels hopeless.”

BY LEE SI-YEOUNG, YOO JI-WOO [yoo.jiwoo@joongang.co.kr]