Hong Sung-kook, a field-oriented futurist known for his "Shrinking Society" thesis and widely regarded as the Democratic Party's economics tutor, has published his ninth book. It comes three years after "Shrinking Society 2.0."
In his new book "Stronger Fascism," Hong diagnoses the global fascism phenomenon haunting the world like a specter. Rather than simply explaining the anxious current era, he focuses on how to break through it.
He argues that today's fascism, unlike the fascism of a century ago, has evolved in ways that are similar yet distinctly different. After comparing the commonalities and differences with fascism from 100 years ago, he analyzes that today's fascism — driven by rapid changes such as the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution and demographic cliff — is not a mere repetition of the past but the arrival of a "stronger fascism."
In particular, Hong sees modern society as having entered a "shrinking society" dominated by low growth and extreme polarization, where four phenomena of discontent — inequality, unfairness, uncertainty and instability — have become the norm. He further argues that the combination of the AI revolution and rapid demographic structural changes has produced a fascist tendency in which the public voluntarily seeks to entrust itself to powerful dictators, manifesting in a more threatening form than a century ago. The book lays out the phenomena of a "stronger fascism" era — where a shrinking society and fascism converge — point by point, compelling readers to squarely confront the reality we face.
The author says that just as Hitler in Germany and Roosevelt in the United States chose similar yet different paths a century ago, we now stand at that very crossroads of choice. How, then, can we break through this global golden age of fascism that has returned after 100 years?
Hong proposes a "K-Structural Transformation" — a greater paradigm shift than Roosevelt's New Deal revolution a century ago. While the original New Deal focused on building the foundations of welfare and national infrastructure to overcome the Great Depression, the "K-Structural Transformation" offers seven core alternatives to solve challenges that did not exist 100 years ago, including the AI revolution and a super-aged society. These include waging war against disinformation and recharging social capital.
With its sharp insight that the turmoil we face today is not a simple economic downturn but a "civilizational inflection point" where the entire system is transforming, this book serves as a worthy survival guide for breaking through a zero-sum battlefield obsessed only with individual survival of the fittest. Priced at 22,000 won.