공적 영역과 사적 영역 : 한국 근대 가족을 중심으로

Abstract

This article is an attempt to expound Korean modern family based on its notions within the public sphere and the private sphere. The Korean modern family is complicated in nature, having to cope with spheres of the public and the private, which are well established in the West as well as in the East. Therefore, it can hardly be explained by sticking to one specific theory. This is the reason why I have tried to reconstruct the existing “public” and “private” notions of Korean modern family, choosing to focus on its compound reality. As an advocate posits in Ch. 2, the notions regarding the public and the private have been constantly reinterpreted in both the East and the West. There is no reason that this trend should not be applied to the study of the modern Korean family as well. In fact, this very approach is subsequently explored in Ch. 3. Here, I stress the compound structure of family, or the “family culture,” in modern Korean society and argue for the need to take this complexity into consideration. In Ch. 4, I propose a new conceptual paradigm by which the complexity of the Korean modern family can be properly explained. I am well aware that my proposal is still in its experimental stages and requires further support and verification. However, I am confident in its worthiness as an alternative account that can aid in better understanding the rapid dynamism of the social reality of the Korean modern society.