ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the tripartite links between the middle class, civil society and democratization in South Korea. It argues that the middle class conducted a leading role in Korean social movements, that its characteristics were formed in unique historical conditions (the deep-rooted impact of Korean Confucian culture, a late-late industrialized nation, the ideology of anticommunism, the vulnerability of political parties, and national centralization), and that such historical conditions and the characteristics of the middle class had an influence on the development of social movements. There exist obvious tripartite links between the middle class, activation of civil society and democratic consolidation, and they show elective affinities between each other.
