Resurgence of Textile-Making in Contemporary Korean Culture: Intergenerational Differences

The purpose of this study was to investigate patterns and reasons for textile-making in women from non-Western culture, Korea, as well as to examine how these patterns and reasons reflected generational differences. Singelis's (1994) self-construal model was used to study values; Collier's (2011) survey was used to investigate patterns and reasons for making textile handcrafts. A total of 365 Korean participants completed the survey: 28% of the participants were young adults (18-25 years old), 42% were middle adults (26-45 years old), and 30% were older adults (46-97 years old). The results confirmed significant differences in the self-construals for different generations of Korean women. Older adults had the highest interdependence scores, followed by the middle adults; the young adults had the lowest scores. Significantly different patterns and reasons among the three Korean groups were also consistent with these results. By demonstrating significantly different patterns and reasons for textile-making between three generations in Korean culture, this study offers a unique contribution to the understanding of the resurgence of textile-making today.