Screening as Governmental Technology: The Nationwide Collection of Mental Health Data on Students in South Korea

In 2012, all the students in South Korea from elementary to high school went through the government's mental health screening. From a historical perspective, this paper examines why and how the Korean government launched the mass screening of students' mental health and what enabled this nationwide data collection. By analyzing its driving forces, this paper reveals the ecology of power being forged at the intersection of multinational pharmaceutical companies, mental health experts, and the Korean government in the 2000s. The paper argues that, against the backdrop of the growing market for multinational pharmaceutical companies in South Korea, the rise in school violence became the catalyst for bringing old and new governmental tools, plans, and resources, putting all students under mental health screening. It shows the continuity as well as the transformation of developmental governmentality in a broader social change of South Korea under the influence of globalization. By doing so, the paper illuminates the shaping of the governmental technology - which was developed rather than imported and deployed rather than recommended - that enabled the nationwide collection of students' data in the context of globalizing and politicizing ideas and practices in mental health.