In this study I examine the escalating expression of hatred directed towards the elderly, who were structurally the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. I aim to uncover the under lying mechanisms driving this phenomenon. Utilizing a mixed me...
In this study I examine the escalating expression of hatred directed towards the elderly, who were structurally the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. I aim to uncover the under lying mechanisms driving this phenomenon. Utilizing a mixed methodology, I analyze interactions across various spaces such as demographic discourse, cyberspace, and the physical world, to elucidate the structural factors leading to the elderly becoming targets of hatred. I explore the different ontological existences of what I refer to as the elderlymultitude, and the nature of their connection to the forces and intensities of hatred that ultimately result in discriminatory and hateful enactments towards them. Additionally, this study investigates the affective lineage of the eigensinn(stubbornness) of the elderly who upheld their support for the August 15 anti-government rally at Gwanghwamun Square, an event which catalyzed the emergence of anti-elderly sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korean society. Through this analysis, I identify how the perception and reaction of the elderly to the proliferation of hatred towards them serves as a mechanism that intensifies their affective alienation. In this study, ethnographic work that explores the ontological existence of elderly-multiple from various perspectives by comprehensively analyzing various types of data can serve as a practice that generates languages and places capable of encapsulating the multifaceted, three-dimensional life experiences of old age. In this regard, anthropological ethnographic work can contribute to theoretical understanding and practical responses to the issue of elder hatred.