Research

Peer-reviewed Articles (in English)

20. Kang, Woo Chang and Sunkyung Park. Forthcoming. "Stuck in an Unequal Society: Wealth Inequality and Pessimistic Prospects on Future Social Mobility in South Korea." Social Forces
21. Kang, Woo Chang and BK Song. Forthcoming. "Making Sense of Heuristics Choice in Nonpartisan Elections: Evidence from South Korea." Political Behavior
22. Kang, Woo Chang and SK Park. 2023. "When Do Homeowners Feel the Same as Renters? Housing Price Appreciation and Subjective Well-being in South Korea." Cities, Vol 134.
23. Chang, Han Il and Woo Chang Kang. 2021, "The Impact of the 2018 North Korea-United States Summit on South Koreans’ Altruism toward and Trust in North Korean Refugees" Social Science Journal
24. Kang, Woo Chang and Jill Sheppard, Feodor Snagovsky and Nicholas Biddle. 2021. "Candidate Sex, Partisanship and Electoral Context in Australia." Electoral Studies, 70:102273
25. Snagovsky, Feodor, Woo Chang Kang Jill Sheppard and Nicholas Biddle. 2020. "The Impact of Descriptive Representation on External Efficacy in Australia." Australian Journal of Political Science, 55(4): 378-398
26. Kang, Woo Chang and Emily Look. 2020. "Inequality and Attitudes toward Immigration: the Native-Immigrant Gap." Australian Journal of Political Science, 55(3): 257-275
27. Chang, Han Il and Woo Chang Kang. 2020. "We or They? A Summit, Accents and South Korean Stereotypes toward North Koreans." International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 79:13-23
28. Kang, Woo Chang, Jae Seung Lee and BK Song. 2020. "Envy and Pride: How Economic Inequality Deepens Happiness Inequality in South Korea," Social Indicators Research, 150: 617-637
29. Kang, Woo Chang. 2019. "The Liberals Should Pray for Rain: Weather, Opportunity Costs of Voting and Electoral Outcomes in South Korea." Political Science, 71(1): 61-78
30. Kang, Woo Chang and Han Wool Jeong. 2018. "The Corruption Scandal and Voter Realignments in the 19th Presidential Election in South Korea." Korea Journal, 59(1): 79-105
31. Han Il Chang and Woo Chang Kang. 2018. "Why do the Poor Oppose Income Redistribution? An Empirical Test on the Impacts of Nationalism and Fatalism." Social Science Journal, 55(4): 422-431
32. Kang, Woo Chang, Won-ho Park and BK Song. 2018. "The Effect of Incumbency in National and Local Elections: Evidence from South Korea." Electoral Studies, 56: 47-60
33. Kang, Woo Chang. 2018. "Presidential Pork Barrel Politics with Polarized Voters." Political Geography, 67: 12-22
34. Horiuchi, Yusaku and Woo Chang Kang. 2018. "Why Should the Republicans Pray for Rain? Electoral Consequences of Rainfall Revisited." American Politics Research, 46(5): 869-889.
    - Featured in New York Times
35. Chang, Han Il and Woo Chang Kang. 2018. "Trust, Economic Development and Attitudes toward Immigration." Canadian Journal of Political Science, 51(2): 357-378
36. Kang, Woo Chang and Jean Hong. 2017. "Unexplored Consequences of Violence against Civilians during the Korean War." Journal of East Asian Studies, 17(3): 259-283
37. Hong, Ji Yeon and Woo Chang Kang. 2017. "Trauma and Stigma: the Long-term Effects of Wartime Violence on Political Attitudes." Conflict Management and Peace Science, 34(3): 264-286
38. Kang, Woo Chang. 2016. "Local Economic Voting and Residence-Based Regionalism in South Korea: Evidence from the 2007 Presidential Election." Journal of East Asian Studies, 16(3): 349-369
39. Kang, Woo Chang. 2015. "Electoral Cycles in Pork Barrel Politics: Evidence from South Korea 1989-2008." Electoral Studies, 2015, 38: 46-58

Peer-reviewed Articles (in Korean)

8. 강우창·이준호. 2024. "오인과 과장 사이: 한국 유권자의 정서적 양극화에 대한 종단 분석(2000년 ~ 2022년) [Between Misperception and Exaggeration: A Longitudinal Analysis of Affective Polarization Among Korean Voters (2000 - 2022)]." 한국정치학회보, 58(1): 7-32 [Link to Paper]
Abstract in English

Despite concerns about the increasing affective polarization among Korean voters, there has been a lack of empirical evidence to support this claim. This study examines whether affective polarization as a 'process' is occurring among Korean voters, exploiting voter opinion polls from six National Assembly elections conducted since 2000. The analysis at both the aggregate and individual levels failed to find evidence that affective polarization is intensifying in Korea. At the aggregate level, both the partisan based polarization index and the Wagner polarization index which includes non-partisans, peaked in 2004, followed by a decreasing trend until 2016. There was an increase in emotional polarization between 2016 and 2020, but further analysis in 2022 revealed that this increase is not continuing. At the individual level, we reconfirmed the significant correlation between affective polarization and factors like strong partisan identity, ideological intensity, and perceptions of ideological polarization within parties; however, this study did not find evidence that these variables are exacerbating affective polarization.

9. 강우창·김지한. 2024. "사전투표제 도입과 선거 당일 날씨 효과: 제18~21대 국회의원 선거 비례대표 투표율과 정당득표율 분석 [Early Voting and Election-Day Weather Effects: An Analysis of the 18th~21st National Assembly Elections]." 한국정치학회보, 58(1): 33-54 [Link to Paper]
Abstract in English

Despite the widespread interest in the effects of weather on elections and the effects of the early voting system, how the early voting system affects the election-day weather effects remains as lacuna. This paper argues that the system mitigates the effects of election-day weather on election, by providing voters with the opportunity to avoid the weather-related costs of voting. An analysis of election-day precipitation and temperature data at the regional level and 18th-21st Korean legislative election results corroborates empirical evidence. The results show that election-day rain increased the vote share of liberal parties and decreased that of conservative parties when the early voting was not available, whereas these effects disappeared as the early voting system was introduced. Relatedly, the election-day rain increased the turnout of those aged 20-24 and decreased turnout of those over 50, whereas these effects vanished with the early voting system. The findings suggest that voters who are sensitive to the direct costs and opportunity costs of voting are taking advantage of the system, based on their anticipation of election-day weather.

10. 강우창·김도원·강준모. 2022. "후보자의 미소와 득표율의 관계 : 제1~7회 지방선거 시군구 단체장 후보자들을 중심으로 [Smile to Win : How do Candidates’ Smiles Affect Election Outcomes?]." 한국정치학회보, 56(4): 59-82 [Link to Paper]
Abstract in English

How do candidates’ appearance affect election outcomes? Under bounded rationality, voters use a variety of heuristics in their political decision-making. Previous studies have found mixed evidence on whether candidates' appearances, particularly their smiles, serve as heuristics and influence election outcomes. In this regard, this study investigates the effect of smiles on vote shares using election posters of candidates running in South Korean local elections. The candidate's smile, as measured by Microsoft Azure, increased the vote share by 1.5 to 2.6%p. The size and statistical significance of the smile effect varied depending on the electoral competitiveness and number of candidates. Overall, this study shows that candidates' smiles help them win votes in specific electoral contexts.

11. 강우창·이지영. 2022. "여성의 기술적 대표성과 여성 정치참여: 제2~7회 지방선거 여성 투표율 분석 [Women’s Descriptive Representation and Political Participation: An Analysis of Korean Local Elections]." 한국정당학회보, 21(1): 5-41 [Link to Paper]
Abstract in English

Underrepresentation of women in politics is a widely recognized problem in Korea, yet empirical studies on the effect of women’s descriptive representation on female political participation are nonexistent. This research analyzes the effect of the number of female candidates and electees during the 2nd~7th Korean local elections on female turnout, revealing that female turnout increased when more female candidates ran for office and more female candidates were elected in the previous election. According to an analysis based on age, the effect of increased female representation on female turnout is most profound amongst female voters in their late 20s to 40s but not as substantial for women in their early 20s or 50s and beyond. Based on results by elections, increased female turnout due to greater representation initially appeared in the 5th election, when mandatory gender quota laws were implemented. Moreover, the effect of the number of elected females on female turnout is larger than that of the number of female candidates. These results show that an increase in female candidates and electees can lead to an increase in women’s political participation.

12. 강준모·강우창. 2022. "후보자 성별이 대학생 유권자의 선택에 미치는 영향 : 컨조인트 실험 [The Effects of Candidate Sex on Voters’ Choice : A Conjoint Experiment with College Students in South Korea]." 한국정치학회보, 56(1): 161-185 [Link to Paper]
Abstract in English

How does the candidate's sex affect voters' choice? Previous studies in South Korea have shown that the candidate's sex does not affect voters' choice. However, the analysis of the observational data such as aggregated election outcomes or survey data is limited in examining the causal effect of a candidate's sex on voters' choice. The effect of candidate sex may be offset from each other when voters engage in the cosex voting, where male voters vote for male candidates and female voters vote for female candidates. The survey data analysis, on the other hand, suffers from the selection issue given that only a small number of qualified female candidates run for elections. In this sense, this study examines the causal effect of the candidate's sex on voters' choices through a conjoint experiment. The results suggest that cosex voting occurs among college students, which continued even after reflecting on the effects of political parties.

13. 서준우·강우창. 2021. "이주민 증가에 따른 이민자에 대한 인식 변화 : 경제적 불평등과의 상호작용을 중심으로 [Understanding Public Attitudes toward Immigrants : the Heterogeneous Effect of Contact Conditional on Local Inequality]." 한국정치학회보, 55(2): 33-53 [Link to Paper]
Abstract in English

The immigration level in Korea has been increasing amidst worsening individual attitudes toward immigrants. Does this mean that the increase in immigration levels leads to a negative public attitude toward immigrants? Intergroup Contact Theory supposes that a larger migrant population leads to positive attitudes: frequent contact alleviates intergroup prejudice and improves relations. This paper suggests that there can be both 'good contact' or 'bad contact' depending on local contextual characteristics, such as inequality. This paper reviews the effect of local economic inequality and local immigrant stock on public attitudes by matching the Seoul Survey dataset(2010-2017) with originally generated local economic inequality levels. With a multi-level time-series data of twenty-five local level districts, six-year spans, and 274,514 individual observations, we find that local districts with larger immigrant populations and lower inequality levels are more likely to exhibit positive attitudes, and the positive effect of the immigrant population on public attitudes diminishes as the inequality level increases. These findings suggest that the deteriorating net level of public attitudes toward immigrants is attributable to economic inequality rather than the size of the immigrant population.

14. 강우창·구본승·이재묵·정진웅. 2020. "제21대 국회의원 이념성향과 정책 태도 [Ideology and Policy Positions of the Elect in the 21st Korean National Assembly Election]." 의정연구, 26(3): 37-83 [Link to Paper]
Abstract in English

This paper presents the results of ‘The Survey on the 21st National Assembly members’ conducted by the Korean Association of Party Studies (KAPS) and the Hankyoreh following the 21st Korean National Assembly Election. Since the 16th Korean National Assembly Election, the KAPS has surveyed the candidates and/or the elected regarding their views on major policy issues and perceived self-ideology, which has contributed to our understanding of overtime changes in ideology of political parties in South Korea and their members. This year’s survey includes 21 questions on the four major policy issue areas including foreign policy, economy, social issues and cultural issues as well as their perceived ideology. Among the 300 elected, 197 participated in the survey. The results suggest that the Justice Party is most liberal, the United Future Party is most conservative, and the Democratic Party is in the middle on average in terms of issue preference and perceived ideology. Compared to the preceding National Assembly, the partisan gap continues to appear salient in foreign policy, economy, and the cultural issues. In contrast, the gap narrows down in the social issues because the members of the Democratic Party embrace more conservative preference. It is noteworthy to examine whether this shift leads to cooperative decision making on social policies between liberal and conservative parties in the upcoming National Assembly. The composite policy preference index of individual assembly members, on the other hand, shows significant difference among members of different parties. Political parties in South Korea has evolved from a group of people from the same region into a group of people with distinctive policy preferences.

15. 강우창. 2016. "선거 당일 날씨와 정당 투표 [Election-day Weather and Party Votes]." 한국정당학회보, 26(3): 37-83 [Link to Paper]
Abstract in English

This paper analyzes the election-day weather effects on turnout and electoral outcomes in South Korea. Existing studies on the importance of election-day weather from developed western democracies generally consider poor weather an additional cost in the voting calculus, which reduces turnout. In this paper, I claim that we need to take the opportunity cost of voting into account in the country like South Korea, where an election-day is designated as a special holiday. Voters who plan leisure activities on the election-day are more likely to turn out in bad weather than in good weather. Given that young people often have stronger preference to leisure activities and affinities with liberal parties, moreover, bad weather in an election-day results in more favorable electoral outcomes to liberal parties than conservative parties. An analysis of three legislative elections since 2004 shows that rainfall increases the number of votes for liberal parties, but decreases the number of votes for conservative parties. However, rainfall does not produce any significant change in turnout because the changes in votes between liberal parties and conservatives parties cancel out each other.

Works on Progress

Grants