Asian American Studies - Korean American Experience

Intergenerational Transmission of Religion and Culture

Today, due to globalization, people have different opportunities to explore different countries in terms of education and work. Immigration is nothing new to us and has been around for years. As a result, indigenous peoples now live abroad as their homeland. However, this does not necessarily mean that their culture is immune to these new environments. Byun Gap Min and Dae Young Kim, authors of an article on intergenerational transmission of religion and culture:

Shifting Boundaries within Second-Generation Korean Culture

In an article by Korean Protestants in America and Sharon Kim, shifting boundaries within second-generation Korean Culture for those living in America.

Research Findings and Limitations

The one strength that Min and Kim’s article has is that it incorporates two generations as a means of researching the influence that Korean American Churches have on Korean culture for these generations. The advantage of this is looking at Koreans born in America and those who migrated to the country at or before the age of 12. Furthermore, the article also articulates how religions are purported to influence cultural growth through generations by looking into previous studies. For instance, the authors take into consideration a 1998 call survey with 200 respondents to answer the same question (Min and Kim 266). This research work is important as it helps to come up with the final results, which for the article was that there is a near absence between Korean religious churches and furthering of Korean culture.

On its weaknesses, the article only concentrated with populations in two areas of U.S., which is New York and New Jersey. The United States is a big country and narrowing down to only two States might not give accurate results. Also, the age group was limited to adults; this means people who are over the age of 23 leaving out the rest. To improve the article, Min and Kim ought to expand their research boundaries and add a third generation to the population sample. This could be individuals of Korean descent who are born of parents who were also born in America.

Conflict between Religious Churches and Korean American Generations

As for Sharon Kim’s article, its strength is that it looks into 22 Korean churches that were established by second-generation Korean Americans. This goes to show that its study population is wide because of the diversity in the church settings. A total of 108 interviews carrying 37 questions were carried out in five different church settings in Los Angeles (Kim 103). In addition to this, the article is also superior in its research and finding in that it seeks to answer the question as to not only how culture is influenced by religion but also the conflict between religious churches established with different Korean American generations.

The weakness of the article is that it only looked into the geographical area of Los Angeles. Another thing is that it only considered the second generation alone. This generation can be described as Koreans born in America. However, Kim needs to include Korean American generations that do not only fall under this category. This should allow for a bigger population sample with different and unique characteristics. Also, there is the need to consider what other factors influence Korean culture integration between generations, taking into account that the western culture is widely being accepted not only by the younger but older generations as well.

Works Cited

Min, Pyong Gap and Dae Young Kim. “Intergenerational Transmission of Religion and Culture: Korean Protestants in the U.S.” Sociology of Religion, Vol.66, no.3, 2005, pp.236-282.

Kim, Sharon. “Shifting Boundaries within Second-Generation Korean American Churches,” Sociology of Religion, Vol.71, no.1, 2010, pp. 98-122