The Confucian Transformation of Korea

Legislation to change Korean society along Confucian lines began at the founding of the Chosn dynasty in 1392 and had apparently achieved its purpose by the mid seventeenth century. Until this important new study, however, the nature of Kory society, the stresses induced by the new legislation, and societys resistance to the Neo-Confucian changes imposed by the Chosn elite have remained largely unexplored. To explain which aspects of life in Kory 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 Kory 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 Chosn Korean social and ideological history.