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

Martina Deuchler

Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1992 - History - 439 pages

Legislation to change Korean society along Confucian lines began at the founding of the ChosÅ n dynasty in 1392 and had apparently achieved its purpose by the mid seventeenth century. Until this important new study, however, the nature of KoryÅ society, the stresses induced by the new legislation, and society's resistance to the Neo-Confucian changes imposed by the ChosÅ n elite have remained largely unexplored.

To explain which aspects of life in KoryÅ 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 KoryÅ 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 ChosÅ n Korean social and ideological history.

Contents

• SOCIETY AND IDEOLOGY: 3
• A RECONSTRUCTION: 29
• KORYŎ SOCIETY 20: 35

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Confucian Transformation of Korea: A Study of Society and Ideology; ACLS Humanities E-Book; ATLA Special Series; Volume 36 of Harvard Yenching Institute Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series; Issue 36 of Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series, ISSN 0073-084X
• Author: Martina Deuchler
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1992
• Original from: the University of California
• Digitized: Apr 10, 2008
• ISBN: 0674160886, 9780674160880
• Length: 439 pages
• Subjects: History / Asia / Korea; Political Science / Political Ideologies / General; Religion / Confucianism; Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social; Social Science / Customs & Traditions; Social Science / General