What's behind the youth's shift to the right?
A field psychiatrist explores not only economic instability but also the psychological reasons behind it!

This book was written against the backdrop of new political and social crises facing Korean society, including the 'martial law attempt,' 'court raids,' and 'far-right remarks by young presidential candidates.'
After the shock of a series of far-right incidents, author psychiatrist Professor Kim Hyun-soo attempted to understand the psychological background, and this is the result of his research.
It is also a psychiatrist's observations and confessions to answer the question, "Why are Korean youth becoming more right-wing now?"
At the same time, it attempts to address the question, "How should we communicate with right-wing youth?" by providing insights into global trends, the resentment they feel due to lack of understanding, and the necessary points of understanding for dialogue.
This paper explains how theories of extreme right-wing extremism explain the emotions associated with the extreme right, such as anger, distrust, loneliness, resentment, and anxiety, that are embedded in the psychological structure of young people today.

It is a reality that there is currently a global trend of far-right youth gaining power.
There are also forces that incite and fuel this trend, based on the confrontation and hatred of far-right youth, malicious incitement and destructive anger, and revenge and resentment, to explode.
I hope that my attempt to understand them will serve as a stepping stone from disgust to hope.

--- pp.5-6

Among the European intellectuals who fled to the United States to escape fascism, Theodor Adorno returned to Germany after World War II.
He made many social proposals to prevent the resurgence of fascism in German society.
He believed that fascism and the far right grew out of the wounds and scars of democracy, and that the far right emerged in society when the citizens' 'ego' was weakened.


Low growth, low birth rates, high suicide rates, and high youth unemployment are major social ills in our society today and are social changes that are causing a decline in self-esteem.
It is the result of over ten years of each person trying to survive on their own in a society of anxiety and distrust.
In this vulnerable and precarious situation, a reckless leader with a weak support base committed the dangerous act of opening the lid on far-right fascism, which had been sealed off.
And he ended up committing dangerous acts such as martial law and civil war, which we all know about.
--- pp.9-10

All teenagers and young adults who become far-right have lived in anxiety and eventually fallen into despair and ruin.
The experience remains a profound trauma.
I feel resentful, angry, and unfair because of the trauma from that time.
But there is something more difficult than that.
The fact is that at that very moment, there was no one to comfort him, hold his hand, or help him.
So, the trust of far-right youth and young adults in the existing society has been greatly broken.
Then, a major turning point occurs in the process of becoming far-right.
They no longer need or expect help.
They will only end up feeling resentful and vengeful towards the society that made them suffer.


They are disgusted by political slogans like “be kind,” “help each other,” and “be communal,” and tell us to stop lying because society is not like that.
In their view, this society is devoid of goodwill.
If there is, they say it is just packaging.
They now claim they do not want to be the object of sympathy wrapped in the good intentions of someone else.
Rather than sympathizing with such frustration, some say that a direct provocation to grow bigger and come up while being stepped on is better.
Now all that remains is resentment and revenge.
--- p.37

Norina Hertz, a British political economist and author of "The Age of Isolation," said that loneliness is a social risk and a gap that right-wing forces can exploit.
It was also said that loneliness and isolation lead to alienation, exclusion, polarization, and extremism.
It is said that when an individual is lonely, it becomes more aggressive and more inclined to perceive individuals approaching it as intruders.

Norina Hertz says, “There is brain research that shows a link between loneliness and reduced empathy.
Lonely people are wary of their surroundings and look for threats rather than trying to understand the suffering or perspectives of others.
“Loneliness is a feeling of being marginalized and powerless, of being isolated and excluded, of being deprived of one’s place and support,” he says.
Loneliness breeds disgust and creates social risks.
As loneliness deepens and isolation increases, inclusiveness also decreases.

--- p.45

In fact, the theoretical and ideological influence of far-right discourse in this process is not complicated.
It's similar to Trump's speech.
It's like a speech about making America great again, about taking back what was taken away from men, about not putting up with being treated like fools anymore, about how men were originally courageous beings but have become miserable over the course of history.
The ideologies that far-right discourse emphasizes to young people are anti-elite, anti-women, and racist.
Among these, we can gradually address where teenagers and young adults place their values.
Some far-right youth are more misogynistic, while others are more anti-elitist or PC-centric.
Or there are teenagers who are more sensitive to racial issues.
What they have in common is a strong feeling that they are being deprived of rights that were originally theirs.


Sometimes, they blame all the misfortunes of their youth on the left, women, elites, teachers, and parents, and project their expanded feelings of anger and resentment onto the process of radicalization.
For them, this reclamation, this restoration of narcissistic wounds, is a healing to restore their original, perfect self.
So there are young people who say they have been healed through far-right activities.

--- p.49

To men in their 20s and 30s, Trump seemed like their sole representative. As PCism created a social climate that tabooed even sound criticism of race and gender issues, men in their 20s and 30s turned their backs on the left, claiming it suppressed their freedom of expression.
And they took the 'charismatic macho hero' Elon Musk as their role model.
They sympathized with Musk's outrage at hedge funds and short sellers, whom he called "uninformed elitist."
The 'GameStop incident' broke out against this backdrop.

Nathaniel Popper's perspective that young American men attempted to overcome their despair and futility about society and their own lives through investment behavior could serve as a benchmark for understanding our youth.

--- p.59