| The main aim of this dissertation is to have a better understanding of the cultural transformation involving the fusion of neo-Confucianism, Japanese imperial culture and Christianity and its implications in the making of modernity in Korea. This study was conducted through historical investigation of the actions and choices of Korean elites and people in the process of modern state formation. For example, the indigenization process of a dominant foreign culture, blind deference to political authority for economic goals and the dominance of Christianity have been ironically produced through a the cultural distortion of neo-Confucianism, a process which began in the Japanese colonial period by the political and social elites of Korea with the goal of introducing a modern form of capitalism. This distorted neo-Confucianism was widely incorporated by the mass population later on. However, my dissertation also deals with the micro-level development of the transformation of the ethos and status of the 'yangban'¹ in historical modern state formation, especially from the period of Japanese colonialism and the U.S. occupation to the authoritarian government of the 1960s.;Among many of the cultural theories of sociology I will discuss in this dissertation, two contrasting views of non-Western modernity will serve as important guideposts. They are Robert Bellah's variation of Max Weber's approach of relating religious culture to the economic modernization in Japan, and Eiko Ikegami's study of the relationship between the non-religious 'honor culture' of the samurai and its relationship to modernity in the process of Japanese state formation. The Korean case, in my opinion, incorporates both of these core ideas because the religion if Confucianism is considered as such in Korea. This is in contrast to the Japan of the axial age,² which played an important role in Korean society and religion yet did not show the same rationalization of history of the West as found in Korea.;It is my view that culture, under a hostile international environment, was a 'survival kit,' rather than a 'tool kit,' as Ann Swidler claimed,³ for both Japanese and Koreans. Japan's leaning toward imperial culture with a militaristic emphasis was a response by the Japanese to Western aggression during colonial competition in the early 20 th century. In contrast, Korea's assimilation to Japanese imperialism can be viewed as an adaptation to the Eastern way of modernity through using familiar cultural resources. However, this in no way essentializes features of neo-Confucianism or Japanese imperial culture, even if they had a degree of autonomy.;¹"The Yangban were a well educated scholarly class of male Confucian scholars who were part of the ruling elite within Korea prior to 1945 and the republics period of Korean history. The name yangban , literally meaning "both classes," refers to the two kind of classes it consists of: munban, the literary class, and muban, the martial class. The yangban tradition of close links to education, teachers, family background and city of origin, has been perpetuated within the Korean ruling class up to the time of the partitioned Koreas, with the south forming a new yangban class of leaders who share many of the values of earlier times, and the north forming a new yangban class based on military and educational fellowships and alliances." Quote from Wikipedia. ²This is Robert Bellah's description of Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity using Karl Jasper's terms. ³See Ann Swidler, " Culture in action: symbols and strategies.", American Sociological Review. 51, 273--286, 1986. |
