L2 - Choson and Korean "trasition" Flashcards
Which part of the Choson period played important role on the peninsula?
Latter half of the Choson dynasty
Core Principles of Confucian Social Theory?
- Human relationships are [hierarchical by nature]; public and private spheres are interdependent
- Laws are mechanisms by which the ruler helps to cultivate the common people’s innate potential for perfectable [morality], not external constraints
What time period is Choson society?
1392-1910
Key characteristics of Choson?
- highly structured, patrilineal descent groups
- Important role of lineage in government organization and political process
- Caste system 种姓制度, with some regard for meritocratic 经营管理的 advancement at the higher levels
The three factors of Confucianism (by upper class) ?
- Life of scholarship
- Ritual仪式 purity (ancestral rites)
- Conspicuous 明显的 class boundaries (ex. Yangban aristocracy贵族, <10%)
Different levels of social organization of Choson (3)
- Yangban elites – Scholars/officials, learned class
- Chungin/Yangmin/Sangmin - “good people” - farmers, merchants, craftsmen; carried the burden of taxation, military service, and communal labor
- Ch’onmin - “base people”/lowborn - slaves & people with “base” professions, e.g., butchers, leatherworkers, shamans, actors/entertainers
What are the criterion for Yangban status?
- Clear line of aristocratic descent from “distinguished ancestor” until criterion for Yangban
- Elite status was socially defined, not legally prescribed by the state.
- Hereditary aristocracy controlled access to political power
Is social class determined by birth/genealogy or achievement? How about achievement?
- Birth/genealogy
- strictly maintained by both law and custom
- achievement is also stressed, through the system of governance based on Confucian learning
How does Confucian values impact on society? Is Confucianism just relate to Chinese?
- Synthesized Confucian values and indigenous traditions for maximum stability
- Confucianism is not necessarily Chinese
- Severe limits on the diversity of the ruling class
(late Choson Social organization) What is Kinship and caste structure? In the perspective of women?
- Gendered dichotomy: inside (nae) kin + outside (oe)kin–>woman is always “outside” kin: X’s wife;
Y’s daughter - But in practical matters, women are inside and men outside
How is Kinship and caste structure in Aristocrat-bureaucracy?
kinship principles of aristocratic succession + meritocracy in state-controlled exams
What is primogeniture长子继承权?
Primary line over collateral lines (eldest son is seat of family trust) (No fraternal succession or equal inheritance
)
Will secondary sons and Yangban woen have inheritance rights in Choson caste system?
No, even within the upper caste
What are some rules in Sadaebu- Aristocrat official?
- depend on land wealth (for economic survival to maintain family assets)
- used principles of inheritance to monopolize political power + economic resources
- Support the state by supplying a stable reservoir of civil servants
Q: Why does the Scholar-Official/Aristocrat system of governance maintain the longevity of Choson?
Aristocrats’ self-interest and state interests overlap
(“…relating descent so closely to political structure, lineages had to make the preservation of the state’s viability the condition of their own survival.”)
