The purpose of this research is to clarify the current issues of mathematical literacy and to propose its future perspective. In this paper, we firstly look at the historical and social development of the conception of literacy from the hunter-gatherer society through the agricultural society and the industrial society to the knowledge-based or information society. Secondly, we consider the asymmetrical relationship between the society and individuals, in terms of "mathematization". The point is that mathematics becomes implicit and invisible for the people, because it is embedded in technological tools such as calculators and computers in the society. This situation can be best summarized by the following words: "an increasing mathematization of our society is complemented by an increasing demathematization of its individual members" (Keitel, 1997:2). Because we are living in this mathematized society, we should develop mathematical literacy in order to encode and decode from the real world to the mathematical one. From this perspective, we discussed the fundamental principle of an alternative curriculum for mathematical literacy. In short, it means that mathematical thinking including modeling and critical thinking is emphasized increasingly as well as mathematical contents.