Korean Worldview Flashcards
(26 cards)
Patrilineal Ideology
-family oriented, focused
-only a man ah the had of the family
-patrilineal kinship
-strict hierarchy among men according to generation. birth order, age
-Korean language observes hierarchy eg: 작은집, 큰집
Separation and Inequality
-the bride is expected to leave her own family → marry to their husband’s family
-most important duty: give birth to male off-spring
-ideologies of 남뇨유별 男女有别, 남존여비 eg: 사랑방, 안방
Widowhood
-the virtuous widow was to remain faithful to her husband until death
-the faithful widow was a cultural icon, a credit to her family
Inheritance and ancestral services
-since Joseon dynasty: properties were disproportionally divided only to male members
-oldest son received the most, daughters were excluded
Exogamy
-people couldn’t marry descendants of the same ancestors or members of the same kin
-valid until 1997: people with the same family name could not marry
Adoption
-enormous importance accorded to blood relations
-in the past: if one of the big houses could not bear a son, ideally one of the younger’s brother secondary sons would be adopted
-lack of sons → constituted legal grounds for divorce → taking on secondary wife to bear a son
-nowadays adoption is still taboo, frequently hidden from society, even from adopted children
족보
-a genealogy book
-firstborn son of each family inherits the original book → continues the family line
Shamanistic worldview
Nature-centric worldview
- everything alive
- close relations with nature
- conciliate these gods → to ward off impending evils → get blessings
- superstitious → similar to modern psychiatry (a kind of regulation of human psychology)
Buddhistic worldview
Humanistic worldview
- nothing can remain unchanged → everything is temporary
- birth, aging, disease, death = major sorrows
- desires = main cause of suffering
- more practical and pragmatic way → for deliverance from human sufferings
- often integrated with Shamanistic and Taoistic worldviews
Taoistic worldview
Inter-connected worldview
- nature creates human
- something undifferentiated and yet complete → existed before heavens and earth
- it depends on nothing & does not change, soundless, formless
- Oneness produced Duality→ Duality produced Trinity → Trinity evolved into the myriad of things
- a human is regarded as a miniature of nature → society corresponds to a part of nature
Confucian worldview
Relationship based worldview
- every man had his place in society
- society consists: small units of people: family, village, state // each has leaderd and followers according to their seniority
- it is natural for society to have different classes → bc human beings are not inherently equal
- 3 cardinal principles:
1. filial piety to their parents
2. loyalty to his sovereign
3. fidelity to her husband
Christian worldview
God-centic worldview
- God is the creator of the nature and man, sovereign, transcendent, omniscient, suppressing all goodness
- nature is not an object of worship → an object of understanding
- from its creation and fundamental beliefs, different from the other traditional worldviews of Korea
Patrilineal
kinship principle
Patriarchal
the organisation of power within families
Familistic
he boarder social, political and economic distribution of power is intimately tied to kinship ideologies and the family system
Confucianism is an ideological system in two sense
- Social behaviour and human values
- Tool of the ruling classes
Filial piety
- Children must obey and respect parental authority
- The family is not independent
- The lineage continues with the birth of a son
- The lineage is traced with men
The separation of sexes
- Young women must not have any contact with men
- Woman is only considered in the lineage through a man
- Women marry to continue another man’s lineage
- The maternal grandfather is not part of the family
Lineage exogamy
- Not marry someone from the same lineage
- Marriages between people with the same surname are not legal
- A marriage is a family union
Traditional marriage
- The couple’s relationship is secondary
- The father-son relationship is at the heart of the lineage
- If the couple has no sons, their lives have no value
Village systems
-Villages: were themselves often clusters of households of affinal kin.
-Village social relations: accord with the patrilineal principle and hierarchy
-Systems: of control and of distribution – keeping order and sharing wealth – follow patrilineal hierarchy
-In villages: competing status and power hierarchies → made for complex social organizations, conflict, and enormous local variation
The Joseon period → were years of political tumult, economic restructuring, and social mobility
양반
-late Joseon period: society was dominated by Yangban → a literati group of civil and military officials, who passed the civil military exam
-Chinese-inspired examinations: tested for the mastery of Confucian texts and learnings
-Possible to purchase Yangban title
-Status: lineage and Confucian ideologies
-Confucian academies: 서원
-Local Agencies and state-owned lands → administered by 양반
-Village contracts & social organisations → also directed by 양반
Social hierarchical classes
- 양반: Minority around 10 %
- 중인: “Middle people”, highly educated
- 상민: freeborn commoners, tilled Yangban land
- 천민: low borns, out-resident slaves, agriculturist, ⅓ of population
Confucianisation
-16-17th century: Confucian social and cultural life was legislated
-Regulating: marriage, inheritance, adoption , funerary practices, widowhood
Pre-Confucian social and organisational structures and cultural practices:
- Daughters and offspring considered integral member of family
- Inheritance divided equally between sons and daughters
- Ancestral services were conducted by women
- Maternal kin were commemorated equally alongside male ancestors →Bilateral kinship system
-Funerary practice: Severely legislated→ Discontinue Buddhist practice of cremation
-1421: women should not show their faces (장옷)
