Feminist economicus: popular feminism, popular finance, and the making of the economic woman in South Korea.
This article examines the discursive construction of feminist economicus in South Korea, arguing that it has been shaped by the alliance of popular feminism and popular finance. As a form of neoliberal and entrepreneurial femininities, feminist economicus blends feminist thinking with the ideal of h...
| Published in: | Cultural Studies Vol. 40; no. 3; pp. 388 - 412 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
May2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=193318060&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 193318060 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 09502386 05G jtl: Cultural Studies issn: 09502386 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: May2026 vid: 40 iid: 3 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 193318060 10.1080/09502386.2025.2495559 ppf: 388 ppct: 24 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 461KB tig: atl: Feminist economicus: popular feminism, popular finance, and the making of the economic woman in South Korea. aug: au: Kim, Bohyeong affil: Department of Communication Studies, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA su: Feminism Capitalism Koreans Businesswomen Economic sociology Financial services industry South Korea sug: subj: South Korea Feminism Capitalism Koreans Businesswomen Economic sociology Financial services industry keyword: assetization entrepreneurial femininity neoliberal feminism Popular feminism popular finance ab: This article examines the discursive construction of feminist economicus in South Korea, arguing that it has been shaped by the alliance of popular feminism and popular finance. As a form of neoliberal and entrepreneurial femininities, feminist economicus blends feminist thinking with the ideal of homo economicus by embracing both feminism and the norms of the capitalist economy. In order to illuminate how feminist economicus has emerged across different media spaces, I examine feminist manifestos, popular feminist discussions and debates on investing, financial advice books for women, and news reports about female investors. Feminist economicus is a subject who practices strategic frugality, is seen to invest better than men do, and assetizes herself. While feminist economicus integrates calculative rationality towards feminist ends in the name of women's economic independence, I contend that this shows how feminist discontent has been subsumed by financial capitalism and the asset economy. Feminist economicus dismantles the dichotomy of male rationality versus female irrationality in ways that reinforce capitalist identification and the legitimacy of finance. In so doing, patriarchy is simultaneously criticized and legitimated. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Cultural Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Cultural Studies holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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