Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors Among Jeju Islanders, South Korea - Island Futures: Conservation and Development Across the Asia-Pacific Region - page 109

Table 9.1 Aspects of the changing socio-economic structure on Jeju

Year
1985 Sectors 1990 2000 2007

Population 462,755 514,608 543,323 563,388

Tourists 669,000 2,992,000 4,111,000 5,429,000

GRDP at current prices
(million USD)

892.7 2,416.1 4,849.2 7,967.4

Industryorigin of GRDP Primary industry 40.7% 34.0% 16.1% 12.9%

Secondary industry 17.6% 20.5% 16.8% 15.5%

Tertiary industry 41.7% 45.5% 67.1% 71.6%

Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

GRDP per capita at current prices (USD) 1,929 4,695 8,925 14,142

Source : Jeju Province. Statistical Yearbook published in each year

increased by 21.7%, gross regional domestic product (GRDP) by 792.5%, and the
number of tourists by 711.6%. In terms of the industrial origin of GRDP, the imple-
mentation of a highly industrialized economic structure took place, and there was
a remarkable increase in tertiary industries. GRDP per capita also rose rapidly,
increasing by 633.1% from 1985 to 2007.
Jeju has a wide range of environmental problems, but these problems converge
in three arenas (Jeong 2002 : 163): depletion of natural resources, pollution or
destruction of natural areas, and destruction of self-regulating systems.

Consumerism, Environmentalism, and Environmental Behavior

The main goals of industrial development are to improve material affluence and
convenience. These goals have created the cultural ethos known as consumerism.
Scholars (e.g. Sklair 1991 ; Miles 1998 ) define consumerism as a cultural impera-
tive that demands we appropriate as many goods and services as possible essentially
for fun, prestige and enjoyment, rather than out of simply necessity.
Consumerism has been conceptualized from two primary sources: developmental
sociology and cultural sociology. The former is most clearly enunciated by Sklair
( 1991 ), who placed consumerism centrally within the development of the global
system and maintained that consumerism is the core component of contemporary
culture, enveloping all people in all parts of the world. Sklair ( 1991 : 41) stated,
“The culture-ideology of consumerism proclaims, literally, that the meaning of life
is to be found in the things that we possess. To consume, therefore, is to be fully
alive, and to remain fully alive we must continuously consume”.
Cultural sociology's interest in consumerism is captured in postmodernity
theories (e.g., Bauman 1998 ; Miles 1998 ; Bennett et al. 1999 ; Lyon 1999 ), although
consumerism is also linked to a wider body of topics, including political economy
(e.g., Fine and Leopold 1993 ), anthropology (e.g., Miller 1995 ; Howes 1996 ), and
mainstream sociology (Ritzer 1999 ). As with the sociology of development, cultural
sociology locates consumerism and consumption centrally within the global system