The Confucian Transformation of Korea: A Study of Society and Ideology

Description

Legislation to change Korean society along Confucian lines began at the founding of the Chosŏn dynasty in 1392 and had apparently achieved its purpose by the mid seventeenth century. Until this important new study, however, the nature of Koryŏ society, the stresses induced by the new legislation, and society's resistance to the Neo-Confucian changes imposed by the Chosŏn elite have remained largely unexplored. To explain which aspects of life in Koryŏ came under attack and why, Martina Deuchler draws on social anthropology to examine ancestor worship, mourning, inheritance, marriage, the position of women, and the formation of descent groups. To examine how Neo-Confucian ideology could become an effective instrument for altering basic aspects of Koryŏ life, she traces shifts in political and social power as well as the cumulative effect of changes over time. What emerges is a subtle analysis of Chosŏn Korean social and ideological history. The Confucian Transformation of Korea: A Study of Society and Ideology ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Contents The Confucian Transformation of Korea INTRODUCTION: SOCIETY AND IDEOLOGY The Contours of Korean Society in Late Chosŏn The Transmission of Confucianism to Korea The Early Formation of Korean Neo-Confucianism Neo-Confucianism as an Ideology of Change 1 THE PRE-CONFUCIAN PAST: A RECONSTRUCTION OF KORYO SOCIETY Kinship and Descent Succession and Inheritance Marriage in Koryŏ: Sociopolitical Aspects Marriage in Koryŏ: Institutional Aspects Mourning and Funerary Rites Conclusions: Koryŏ Society Reconsidered 2 NED-CONFUCIANISM: THE IDEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF SOCIAL LEGISLATION IN EARLY CHOSON The Rise of New Dynastic Forces The Intellectual Formation of the New Elite The Disintegration of Koryo Society and the Buddhist Question In Search of a New Societal Model The Reorganization of Society The Neo-Confucians' Research Sources and Institutions The Relevance of Ancient Models Assimilation and Conflict Elitism and Ideology 3 AGNATION AND ANCESTOR WORSHIP The Neo-Confucian View of Society The Introduction of Ancestor Worship The First Contours of a Lineal Concept Lineal Succession and Ancestor Worship Ancestor Worship and Secondary Sons Ancestor Worship and Women Non-Agnatic Succession Genealogies as Descent Group Charts Ancestral Rites: Economic Aspects Ancestral Rites: Institutional Aspects Ritual Literature Ancestral Rites: Religious Aspects Toward Implementing Ritual Primogeniture 4 MOURNING AND FUNERARY RITES Prelude to Revised Mourning The Transformation of the Mourning Grades Ritual Aspects Funerary Rituals and Geomancy 5 INHERITANCE The State and Private Property The Agnatic Principle and Inheritance Wills and Regulations Affecting Inheritance Inheritance and Women From Ritual to Economic Primogeniture 6 CONFUCIAN LEGISLATION: THE CONSEQUENCES FOR WOMEN The Institutionalizing of Primary and Secondary Wives Marriage Rules and Strategies The Confucian-Style Wedding Ceremony The Royal Wedding Ceremony The Korean Wedding Ceremony Training and Indoctrination of Women Life in the Husband's Household The Married Woman's Legal and Ritual Functions Secondary Wives and Their Sons The Dissolution of the Conjugal Bond Widowhood and Remarriage The Confucians' Immutable Image of Women CONCLUSIONS: THE EMERGENCE OF A LINEAGE SOCIETY NOTES SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY GLOSSARY INDEX HARVARD-YENCHING INsTITUTE MoNOGRAPH SERIEs