Alexander’s Thesis of Value Generalization Reconsidered: Focusing on the 2008 Candlelight Vigils in South Korea

This article aims to reconsider Jeffrey C. Alexander’s thesis of ‘value generalization.’ I first review Alexander’s thesis of value generalization by tracking its origin to Weber’s value analysis, and then point out that norms occupy an ‘ambiguous’ status in Alexander’s model of value generalization. Further, I present an alternative that provides inner structures of not only values but also norms and goals, and places semantic and moral tension between values, norms, and goals at the center of cultural-sociological analysis. Specifically, I propose to define values, norms, and goals as a system of ‘axiological-existential symbols,’ a system of ‘moral-aesthetic symbols,’ and a system of ‘instrumental-strategic symbols’ as well as to bring back the generalization-specification scheme to the hierarchy of values, norms, and goals. I develop my own thesis of norm generalization, apply it to the 2008 candlelight vigils in South Korea, demonstrate the vigils as an analytic illustration of norm generalization, and then analyze why norm generalization occurred instead of value generalization. Lastly, I present two contributions, analytic as well as normative, of my study to Alexander’s thesis of value generalization.