Introduction
Today’s society has set beauty standards by the appearance, such as face features and body, and divided others into the terms ‘beautiful’ or ‘ugly’, based on whether one’s appearance fits the standard or not. The standard of beauty has been set through various social implications, which makes the standard different by cultures and countries. We cannot, thus, define what exactly the meaning of ‘beautiful’ is. However, it is nearly the same for any culture and for any country that today’s society judges others by the appearance and treats differently. To achieve my research goal, I have asked the following questions: Does the physical appearance matter at workplace? What kinds of career effects do workers experience by the appearance discrimination? Are people aware of its phenomenon? Moreover, I am going to examine in this paper, how different appearance discriminations occur in different countries, due to the fact that the standard of beauty is different in different cultures.
Inequality, based on whether someone is being attractive or not, is pervasively occurring in our society, even at the workplace, that is, anyone can have its effects but less likely to have the awareness. Appearance discrimination at workplace, based on the beauty, is an important sociological phenomenon that we need to thoroughly question and explore. This research, hence, proposes the effects of appearance discrimination, based on the beauty in today’s society, focusing on the current labor market in order to further extend our knowledge of the phenomenon of appearance discrimination in the public.
Appearance Discrimination in Korea
Contrary to the U.S., where people tend to concern with being discriminated against, based on their race, gender or age than on their physical appearance, according to Zakas (2005), Korea is extremely obsessed with ‘beauty’, which causes “lookism”. “Lookism” in Korea is so severe that even plastic surgery is highly popular among women. Appearance discrimination at workplace, based on beauty is, hence, no exception. According to the article from an Asian Correspondent, a survey found that four in ten employees have been discriminated against, based on their physical appearance, and they received substantially lower salaries. Moreover, the survey asked a total of 583 people about their experiences of job interviews, and thirty-five percent of responders affirmed that their looks were forming a considerable portion of necessary percentage to become hired during a job interview. Twenty percent even answered that they have been insulted during the job interviews because of their looks, according to Schwartzman.
As mentioned above, plastic surgery has become extremely popular in Korea, and this kind of surgery for getting a job is a rising trend. Jobseekers in Korea are told to manage their appearances well to give a positive impression during the job interviews, and the fact, eventually, leads them to change their face, as mentioned by Kang. A recent survey conducted by Saramin, a job market information portal, found that three of ten jobseekers confirmed they would get a plastic surgery to have a better appearance for getting their desired jobs. Due to the fact that most of the jobseekers in Korea have good qualifications these days, an attractive appearance, which can give a highly positive impression, has become an important factor, based on the findings by Young. Korea is a small country, in which the current focuses on human resources has made the labor market more competitive, and eventually translated the attractive appearance as one’s ability. In Korea, appearance discrimination, based on beauty, does not even seem to be regarded as unfair, but rather a natural thing to happen, and more and more people try to fit themselves in the situation (Kim, 2012).
A Justification of Questions for a Questionnaire Survey
Conducting a questionnaire survey, related to the research questions, I presented a number of important questions about attractiveness at workplace. The first question was: Is attractiveness an important factor during the job interview; and my sole aim was to find out if one’s physical appearance matters, when hiring of certain employees. My answer was presented on the basis of this research. The second and third questions were: Is an attractive person more likely to experience a career growth opportunity, as compared to a less attractive person; does an attractive person gets a higher salary as compared to a less attractive person. The purpose of the second and third questions was to find out the effects of appearance discrimination, based on beauty, i.e., the benefits of being attractive. My current research paper explores the effects caused by the appearance discrimination to provide reasonable awareness of the discriminatory phenomenon in today’s society. The fourth question addressed the following: Does an attractive person gets treated differently by his colleagues, than a less attractive person. The purpose of the fourth question was to find out, whether the atmosphere at workplace is forming the discriminatory situation, which can cause a lower self-esteem to those, who are less attractive by nature. My fifth question, hence, was: Is plastic surgery for getting a job proper, and my answer to the question implied a comparison between American and Korean societies of today, as well as a comparison of the way how the appearance discrimination is made, based on one’s beauty. The last question for this research comprised, whether I am aware of the appearance discrimination occurring at workplace, and the purpose of my question was to find out the extent at which the employees are aware of the discriminatory situation happening at their workplaces in order to provide the awareness of the whole phenomenon.
