EAST 213 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Meritocracy, Written Vernacular Chinese, Chauvinism
31 May 2016
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Document Summary
Deuchler"s answer : the adaptation of confucianism by choson elites. Key principle of (colonized) choson society : conspicuous and inviolable (firm) class boundaries. P"ungsok interdependent relationship, not a coercive one. The domestic sphere (wife) subordinated to the public sphere (father son), subordinated to the sovereign (ruler subject) Human relationships = hierarchical by nature, and public and private spheres = interdependent. Laws = mechanisms by which the ruler helps to cultivate the common people"s innate potential for perfectible morality, not external constraints. Choson reformers wanted to eradicate the social and economic power of the buddhist institutions. Proposed an ideal confucian society (to argue that confucianism isn"t necessarily chinese) Limits on the diversity of the ruling class : a woman"s ancestry and legitimize its results. The importance of confucian social ideology = key to understanding classical korean civilization that emerged by the second half of the choson period.
