본 연구의 목적은 생애사적 접근을 통해 조선족 1세대들이 몸소 체험하고 자신의 언어로 재구성한 문화 적응 과정을 심층적으로 이해하는 것이다. 연구의 초점은 이주의 동기, 문화적응 양상, 문화적응 맥락을 탐색하는 것이다. 연구 대상자들은 중국에 현재 거주하고 있는 이민 1세대로 직접 중국에 이주한 사람들이다. 분석결과 조선족 1세대의 이주동기는 대부분이 생활고와 차이나 드림에 기인한 것이었다. 그리고 조선족 1세대들의 문화적응 유형은 분리양상에 가까웠다. 중요한 점은, 이들이 수동적 타자로서가 아니 라 적극적 주체로서 스스로 중국 사회와 거리를 둔 것으로 나타났다. 조선족 1세대들은 중국에 거주하면 서도 본인들은 뼛속까지 조선족이라는 의식이 강했으며, 조선족 집성촌을 만들어 중국 사회와 거리를 두었고, 조선어만 사용하였다. 이런 분리의 양상에 영향을 미치는 맥락적 요인으로는 높은 민족적 우월감, 높은 민족 교육, 임시 체류자, 이중차별, 경쟁의식, 언어적 어려움으로 나타났다.

The number of North Korean defectors in South Korea has reached 30,000, however, it has been reported that many of them still have adaptation problems. Research on adaptation of North Koreans to South Korean society has been approached mainly from social, economic, and psychological perspectives, and little research has been conducted on their adaptation in terms of lifestyle of North Koreans in South Korean society. Adaptation to daily life pattern in a new social-cultural environment may be examined in the context of acculturation. As a part of the daily life, we are focusing on North Korean defectors’ clothing behavior and how they use clothing as a strategic tool for their adaptation to South Korea. The results of this study may provide marketers the information needed to develop mobile applications to help the North Korean defectors adapt to South Korean fashion style. This research also examined the impact of fashion SNS and word-of-mouth communication as a means of identity formation. In depth interviews using snowball sampling were conducted with 10 North Korean defectors in their 20s and 40s who agreed to voluntarily participate in the research from December 2016 to February 2017. The findings from the interviews are as follows. First, according to Berry’s(1997) types of acculturation, North Korean defectors were classified based on the subjective aspects(e.g. clothing norms) and objective aspects(e.g. clothing purchase behavior) of their daily clothing behavior. The Integrators still tried to abide by the clothing norm acquired in North Korea, but at the same time accepted the clothing norms of South Korea and tried to change their personal ideal. In the objective aspects, their clothing styles still reflect North Korean fashion norms, yet they newly acquire norms regarding thin body ideals or skin care management in the South. They also showed the change of store preference and choices as they become adapted to South Korean culture. The second group, Assimilators show high degree of acceptance of South Korean culture. They regarded the sense of belonging to South Korean society and appearance management as important. Many of them played a role as a fashion adviser among their North Korean peers while they have formed and kept the social network with South Korean. Thirdly, Segregators are the people who try to maintain North Korean culture and try to segregate from the South Korean (host) culture. Defectors in this type still abided by the clothing norms they acquired while in North Korea, and had a negative viewpoint on the South Koreans' styles. They still preferred North Korean fashion style, and were familiar with using North Korean words for expressing terminology related to fashion. Finally, Marginalized group is the people who consider themselves being individual and independent self-standing entity with low degree of acceptance of South and North Korean culture. They sought to express their own individuality before and after defecting by creating their own style. This study may contribute to the understanding of adaptation process, not only of North Korean defectors, but also other immigrants to other countries.

Through the theoretical lens of self-concept and by conducting 27 in-depth interviews, the study shows that social media provides an arena for the development, negotiation and maintenance of home and host identity self-schemas, as well reducing negative emotional effects. However due to simultaneous online surveillance from multiple agents, maintaining disparate expectations is found to result in social anxiety and the practice of self-regulation.