Korea as a Low Trust Society

In my ISM2107 Politics and Business in Korea class at Yonsei, the instructor often talked about high trust and low trust societies, referring to Francis Fukuyama's book Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity.

I recall reading some snippets about it, where a low trust society like Korea and China, tend to favor family run businesses, and that in high trust societies, such as Japan and USA, large conglomerates can form.

Korea had these large conglomerates, called chaebol, artificially engineered upon the society, which is more of an unique and rare exception as the culture is a low trust society.

Anyhow, I think this book is required reading for anyone into international business, economics, sociology or related fields, and it is especially intriguing for those studying topics related to East Asia.