This study is a methodological exploratory inquiry that autoethnographically analyzes the process by which a qualitative researcher unfamiliar with autoethnography comes to understand the method and explore its possibilities for application. Although the researcher had long conducted studies primarily using grounded theory, she attempted a transition to autoethnographic research in order to integrate her personal experience more actively into her scholarly work. In particular, this study reviews the theoretical debate between evocative and analytic autoethnography and adopts analytic autoethnography―emphasizing sociological explanation and conceptualization―as its primary framework. On this basis, the researcher reflexively documented the entire research process, including topic formation, data collection, and analysis, using her experience of teaching qualitative research―especially photovoice―to students as a central case. The data consisted of multiple forms of self-generated materials, including research journals, classroom field notes, and records of communication with students and colleagues. Through repeated reading and constant comparison, the researcher pursued processes of conceptualization and categorization. During analysis, she developed the concept of the “asymmetry of participation” to describe the structural tensions and limitations that emerge in the practical classroom implementation of participatory research methods. This concept refers to a structure in which participants occupy a central role during data production, yet the authority for meaning-making becomes re-centered on the researcher during interpretation and theorization. Such conceptualization demonstrates the potential of autoethnography to move beyond personal narrative and to explain the structural dimensions of sociocultural educational practice. By combining autoethnography with grounded theory, this study shows that personal experience can be systematically analyzed and theorized, and it explores directions through which autoethnography may be extended as a sociological research method. At the same time, rather than presenting a finalized set of findings, the study positions itself as an exploratory effort situated in the methodological preparation for conducting autoethnography. It proposes the need to further develop the analytic potential of autoethnography through continued experimentation and cumulative inquiry.

Based on multi-year data from the ‘Social Science Korea (SSK)’ program initiated in 2010, this study empirically analyzes the correlation between research funding and productivity according to the characteristics of research agendas. The findings are as follows. First, while there is a general positive (+) correlation between the scale of research funding and productivity, significant performance variances exist depending on the methodological and substantive characteristics of the agenda. Second, agendas utilizing quantitative data exhibited a low-cost, high-efficiency structure, whereas fields where data accumulation is difficult―such as qualitative approaches or specific area studies ―showed a ‘performance asymmetry’ with lower output relative to budget. Third, the universality and specificity of research topics acted as key variables in determining the scope of outcomes; research focused on the specificities of Korean society contributed highly to domestic academia but faced limitations in international dissemination. Fourth, in terms of policy linkage, a ‘bottleneck in policy transition’ was observed in agendas with high social urgency (e.g., low birth rate, aging population), where academic achievements failed to translate into actual policy implementation. These results strongly suggest that the evaluation of national R&D projects must shift from a quantitative approach centered on the number of publications to a multidimensional perspective that encompasses academic impact, social feedback, and policy contributions. This paper emphasizes the urgent need to develop and apply a ‘multidimensional feedback system’ and ‘smart evaluation indicators’ that reflect the public interest and social value of long-term collective research programs like the SSK.

This study proposes Jisojung (之笑情) as an interpretive concept for reexamining the Korean tea spirit as an integrated structure in which emotion, aesthetics, language, and embodied sensibility are mutually interlinked. Previous research on tea spirit has tended to emphasize comparative analyses of shared East Asian conceptual frameworks―such as Jeonghaeng-geomdeok in The Classic of Tea (Chajing), Jungjeong in Dongdasong, and the Japanese principle of Wakei-seijaku. While these approaches have clarified common philosophical foundations, they have been limited in accounting for the emotional, aesthetic, and relational sensibilities distinctive to Korean tea culture. In particular, core elements of Korean affect and aesthetics―jeong (情) and han (恨), along with simplicity, rusticity, emptiness, and nonchalance―have remained fragmented rather than being organized into a coherent conceptual structure. To overcome this limitation, this paper establishes Jisojung as an analytical framework and reconstructs the affective configuration of the Korean tea spirit accordingly. It draws on key discussions in Korean philosophy of emotion, aesthetics, and philosophy of language, and reconfigures the semantic field of native Korean affective vocabulary within the context of tea culture by examining the correspondence between the consonantal system of Hunminjeongeum and the symbolic structure of the Five Elements. In parallel, it comparatively reviews Jeonghaeng-geomdeok, Jungjeong, and Wakei-seijaku to identify shared East Asian ground while clarifying the specific manner in which Korean tea culture organizes affect, aesthetics, and relationality. The discussion further refines an interpretive frame for articulating the interplay of language, sensibility, and relationship through the notions of an affective cycle and a rhythm of jeonggam. The paper shows that Jisojung can be formulated as an integrated concept that explains a Korean affective cycle moving from rustic sensibility toward the condensation and reflection of jeong/han and then toward quiet smiling and relational expansion. In particular, the Five-Elements-oriented native Korean affective lexemes―gatmalgda, neugeureopda, mudeonhada, chaoreuda, and aureuda―function as linguistic resources that mediate emotion, sensibility, and relationship; they do not merely name affective states but organize, within tea practice, the rhythm of jeonggam as it is experienced through the body, emptiness, and silence. By approaching affect not as a static state but as a mode of movement, Jisojung illuminates the emotional depth and aesthetic qualities of Korean tea culture that are difficult to capture fully through Jeonghaeng-geomdeok, Jungjeong, or Wakei-seijaku alone. By proposing Jisojung as an integrated analytical framework, this study offers a way to understand the Korean tea spirit beyond ritual- or history-centered descriptions, as a structure in which emotion, aesthetics, language, relationship, and embodied sensibility are interwoven. It thus provides a conceptual basis for further theoretical inquiry into affective attunement and relational formation mediated by tea practice.

In the mid-7th century, amidst a crisis of national survival exemplified by the fall of Daeya Fortress, Silla was compelled to seek a new order of unification that transcended mere military conquest. This study posits that the unification of the Three Kingdoms during this period was not achieved solely through the political and military dynamics represented by Kim Chun-chu and Kim Yu-sin. Accordingly, this paper analyzes the mechanisms of ‘realistic systemic reorganization’ and ‘emotional integration’ established by two female figures, Deokman (Queen Seondeok) and Seonhwa. These mechanisms are reinterpreted from the perspective of temporal continuity, utilizing the architectural spaces of Magoksa Temple and the Mireuksaji Temple Site as mediums. To this end, this study convergently examines literary sources such as the Samguk sagi and Samguk yusa, alongside archaeological data including the record of sarira enshrinement at Mireuksaji and the temple layout of Magoksa. Furthermore, a hermeneutic approach is employed to provide an in-depth analysis of the social phenomena and symbolic meanings of the era. The results of the study are as follows. First, it is established that Princess Deokman solidified the will for national defense through the construction of the nine-story wooden pagoda at Hwangnyongsa Temple and her cooperation with Preceptor Jajang. Additionally, by founding Magoksa Temple in the Gongju region―then enemy territory―she laid a realistic foundation for unification. In particular, the coexistence of Daegwangbojeon (symbolizing the Past Buddha) and Daeungbojeon (symbolizing the Present Buddha) at Magoksa serves as a symbol of Deokman’s practical volition to overcome the crisis of the ‘present’. Second, the study reveals that Princess Seonhwa’s Tale of Seodong and the founding of Mireuksa Temple project a vision of ‘future’ peace (the World of the Dragon Flower Tree), transcending the distinction between victor and vanquished. Mireuksa, with Maitreya Buddha as its principal icon, functioned as a mechanism of integration, providing psychological solace and a sense of emotional bond to the displaced people of Baekje. In conclusion, this study confirms that Silla's unification of the Three Kingdoms was not a singular event in time, but a grand temporal narrative completed through the complementary combination of Deokman’s acute perception of reality (the Present) and Seonhwa’s sublime spirit of embrace (the Future). Consequently, by illuminating the values of ‘preparation’ and ‘reconciliation’ demonstrated by these two forms of female leadership 1,400 years ago, this study offers meaningful implications for addressing the current conflicts on the Korean Peninsula, as well as for broader discussions on conflict resolution and unification in modern society.

This study critically analyzes how the concept of equality was reduced to a problem of identity and its political meaning was reduced under neoliberal conditions. Identity politics has achieved the results of visualizing the experience of discrimination, but as it was separated from redistribution or social rights issues, it transformed equality into an area of recognition demands or moral appeals between groups rather than structural tasks. In particular, the study focuses on the discourse of 'advanced feminism' (Ratfam, etc.) that has emerged in the process of popularizing Korean feminism since 2015. The politics of 'women first' and 'pyrone' they argue reduce the meaning of equality by reducing equality to homogeneity and seeing other minority identities such as disabilities and homosexuals as opposed to women. This phenomenon is combined with neoliberal governance that places the cause of inequality on individual responsibility and emphasizes meritocratic fairness, resulting in the loss of language of social solidarity and structural criticism by making equality a zero-sum game. Taking Kim Jin-ah's novel as an example, the study empirically analyzes how efforts toward personal equality reduced the concept of true social equality and created resistance within feminism. Rather than completely denying identity politics, this study aims to critically reflect on how it has become a substitute for equality politics, not an alternative. Ultimately, research seeks the theoretical possibility of thinking about equality again as a political and structural problem. The results of the study are as follows. First, 'equality' is decreasing, and as an example, we reflected on the issue of 'fair equality along with meritocracy rhetoric' in the flow of radical feminism as a new feminist movement including Ratfam in Korea. It was revealed that this phenomenon has been maintained, changed, and developed based on neoliberal genealogy. Second, it was analyzed that the efforts for personal equality within feminism reduced the concept of true social equality through the 'identity debate' shown in < I am only saving my pie but not here to save humanity >. Third, it introduced the Milan Women's Community World-building project based on communication and dialogue as a practical insight to change the definition of equality in the process of restoring resistance within feminism. The Milan community rejected the existing male-centered equality scale and implemented the 'world-building' project by building free relationships between women. This suggests that when rights are linked to the practice of freedom rather than staying in abstract legal provisions, equality can be reborn as 'made from the bottom' rather than being distributed from the top.

This study investigates how the advent of the “centenarian era” in Korea’s super‑aged society structurally produces and intensifies elderly alienation, and explores integrated alternatives grounded in East Asian social thought. Using literature review and theoretical analysis, supplemented by national statistics and policy cases, the study first examines contemporary discourses on longevity and the reconfiguration of the life course, showing that old age has emerged as an extended and differentiated life stage characterized by new forms of inequality in income, health, and social relations. Drawing on Marx’s theory of alienated labor, Habermas’s concept of the colonization of the lifeworld, Weber’s notion of vocation and work ethic, and Fromm’s idea of existential alienation, the paper analyzes how the modern emphasis on productivity and efficiency shifts elderly alienation from exploitation within production to exclusion and loss of social meaning beyond work. The study then focuses on the internal differentiation between the “young‑old” and the “old‑old,” demonstrating that role loss, breakdown of social networks, and divergent care needs generate distinct patterns of alienation, thereby requiring life‑course‑sensitive and function‑specific policy responses. Finally, the paper reinterprets the Joseon‑period giroso (Council of Elders), the Silla hwa‑baek council, and East Asian tea culture as institutional, political, and cultural models that placed older people at the center of the community, and discusses their potential as an integrated framework for overcoming elderly alienation today. By reconceptualizing elderly alienation as a crisis of human existence, relationships, and communal ethics rather than a mere lack of welfare, this study argues for a paradigm shift toward a relational understanding of human beings and a new model of old age suitable for the centenarian era.