The Nationalism And Social Structure In Korea

The theme of this thesis is to study the characteristics of modernnationalism in Korea. The theme will be discussed in two subjects.Firstly, the relation between nationalism and social structure in Korea,from late19th century to early20ty century; and secondly, theevolution of Korean nationalism, form its pre-modern form to modernform.On Korean nationalism, the primitive debate is focusing on theorigin of Korean nationalism. In the past, the major opinion had it asevolution of its own. By1990s, plenty of works have discussed themodern origin of Korean nationalism in a constructive view, includingthe evolution of national identity. According to the latter, Koreannationalism merely has a history of two hundred years.In this paper, nationalism will be discussed as a sort of ideology,which is a product constructed by social development. Many nationshave their long histories and traditions, but the evolution and nature ofnationalisms depend on the social developments and heavily influencedby social structures. Thus, the evolution of Korean nationalism isanalyzed and indentified, according to the historical transition from feudal society to capitalist society in Korea.In this paper, nationalism is identified as an ideological movementto promote national independence, integration and development, whichhas been greatly shaped by various movements in history and society.In A.D.676, Shilla conquered the Korean Peninsula. After that, thewhole Korean Peninsula had been ruled by several dynasties for morethan a thousand years, and the evolution of Korean nation had beenpromoted in the territory. In comparison with other emerging ormultinational countries, the Korean nationalism has its own uniquefeatures.Korea entered modern world in1876, which had been forced toopen by Japan. In late19th century and early20ty century, Korea gotout of the tributary system of Chinese Empire, and integrated into theworld system of national states. At the same time, the traditionalnationalism grew into modern nationalism, with the transition fromfeudal society to capitalist society. Promoted by social change, as wellas national movement against foreign invasion, the Korean nationalismgrew rapidly. However, the Korean Peninsula is of geopoliticalimportance, and as a result of it, the independence and development of Korean nation were severely impacted by political and economicalinfluence internally, as well as geopolitical pressure externally. Lots ofnationalism grows rampantly all over the world in20th century, but theKorean nation was conquered as a colony, and then divided after WorldWar II. The nature and characters of Korean nationalism appear distinctin the historical progress with tragedy of its own.