2004 Political and Social Consciousness Survey Frequency Table

2004 Political and Social Consciousness Survey [Frequency Table]

Purpose of the Survey

Ideology has become a keyword for understanding our society. This trend signifies that it has not only become an essential concept for comprehending domestic politics, economy, society, and culture, but also a useful analytical standard in the analysis of foreign security domains. Accordingly, EAI has been surveying the ideological issues of our society annually since May 2002. The survey has two main objectives. First, to empirically understand the content and standards of ideology in Korean society. Second, to grasp the differences and changes that the shifts in social reality create in the ideological distribution of public perception.

Generally, ideology refers to a relatively stable and entrenched value orientation. However, the content of ideology is continuously updated over time and with changes in reality, rather than being fixed. Therefore, in Korean society, which is experiencing rapid socio-economic changes, the ideological orientations and characteristics embedded in the consciousness of the public are bound to be variable. This implies that the task of elucidating the ideological characteristics and meaning of a society cannot be accomplished through a one-time study. This is precisely why EAI has been conducting periodic political and social opinion surveys. Researchers have tracked the paths of ideological change and their causes over time by selecting about ten issues that emerge as ideological conflicts in the political, economic, social, and foreign policy/security domains. To this end, a significant portion of the questionnaires used in the past were employed.

Survey Method

Survey Target: Adult men and women aged 20 and over

Survey Region: Nationwide

Valid Sample: 1,000 individuals

Survey Method: Face-to-face interviews

Sampling Error: ±3.1% points (95% confidence level)

Survey Date: November 29 - December 11, 2004

Sponsor: Hankook Ilbo

Planning and Analysis: EAI