SITUATIONAL SHIFTING OF ETHNIC-IDENTITY S EEN AMONG KOREAN YOUTHS IN JAPAN

This study attempted to investigate the nature of Korean youths' ethni c identity by asking the choice of names in varieties of socio-cultura l and interpersonal situations. Respondents were 93 Korean students, b orn in Japan, attending Japanese colleges, and participating in a meet ing held by a Korean association at the time of the survey. The result s showed that while approximately a quarter of the respondents chose o nly their Korean names (type I), the rest chose their Korean names wit h Japanese pronunciation (type II), or Japanese names (type In) along with their Korean names depending on the situation. The choice of name s was related to psychological conflicts felt in a given situation : T hey tended to choose the name that caused less conflicting feelings. T heir fundamental ethnic identity appeared strong regardless of the dif ferent types of the use of names although the maintenance of their eth no-cultural factors was the weakest among those occasionally choosing Japanese names. The results were discussed in relation to socio-cultur al and interpersonal nature of identity, and the concept of situationa l shifting of ethnic identity was introduced.