조선후기 '문중화' 경향과 친족조직의 변질 = The Development of the 'Munjung' System and the Changes occurred in the Kinship, the latter half of the Chosun dynasty period system

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The so-called 'Munjung' system, which has been one of the traditional forms of the Korean family system for quite some time, is actually not a very popular one in the eyes of the people today. The 'Munjung' system had gone through some changes since the early days of the Chosun dynasty(when it was still showing equal attachments to one's paternal and maternal relatives), and became a very patrilineal and also patricentric one during the latter half of the Chosun dynasty period. The competitive rivalry among the 'Munjung' forced by the economical changes that the society was facing, also accelerated the process.
But if we examine the formation of such Kinship, the changes they went through, and also the inner mechanisms of those Kinship, we can see that inside those mechanisms there are many conflicting facets colliding with each other. Facets such as the habit of discriminating someone versus pursuing wide-range of solidarity, the practice of excluding someone vs. bonding with someone, a feature as a community vs. the factor called blood relationship, and the quality of tradition and conservativeness, are all evident aspects that can be easily spotted to be in conflicting situations stemming from the inner workings of a family or a Kinship. These colliding facets suggest that the family system of Korea, and its blood relationship-based qualities have served the Korean people over the years in both positive and negative terms.
Of course there are many negative aspects that can be easily pointed out of the changes which the Kinship had gone through during the latter half of the Chosun dynasty period. Yet that does not justify any shallow judgements of the system itself based or contemporary point of views. Those judgements often tries to unfairly link ① the extremely negative aspects of the 19th century Houses, or ② the much more distorted states of those negativities which became apparent during the Japanese Occupation period and the chaotic period that followed the Liberation, and ③ the selfishness and self-serving attitudes of today's so-called Munjung, to the Munjung of the latter half of Chosun dynasty's period, without any proper bases.
The Munjung of that period were products of the members' efforts to preserve and defend themselves against other rival entities of the local regions. It was all about who was going to gain a superior authority in ruling such local matters, or how to maintain that authority. So there were indeed aspects that had nothing to do with blood-related factors. We can say that the changes of the Munjung System's nature were the results of the Munjung's self-defensive efforts, which at the same time assumed the form of a kinship-based respones.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 머리말
• 1. 조선후기 '문중화' 경향의 배경
• 2. 조선후기 '문중'의 조직 범위
• 3. 변질된 친족조직 '문중'의 활동 양상
• 1) 동족마을의 형성과 발달
• 2) 서원의 문중화 경향
• 3) 문중활동의 여러 유형들
• 맺음말 - '문중화' 경향의 재평가 문제