自賣文記를 통해 본 조선후기 하층민 가족의 가족질서

Abstract

In this article, the familial order inside low-class households that existed during mid-18th century through the latter half of the 19th century is examined by analyzing 112 cases of 'selling oneself' instances (and 115 documents created for such occasions). These instances of 'selling oneself' also included instances of selling one's own family members or close relatives. And in this article, examination of these instances in which the seller differed from the ones that were sold, revealed the familial order of low-class households that existed in Joseon's latter half period, as follows. First, the basic low-class familial unit of this time period seems to have been a 'small family', which was comprised of parents and children. Relationships between the 'seller' and the 'sold' varied, from between spouses, between parent and child, and to between brothers and sisters. In cases of selling the children, the father served as the primary seller, and when he was not available, no other close relatives but the mother stepped in to fill in that role. This shows us that familial matters were decided inside a 'small family community structure', comprised of parents and children. Second, the society had different expectations upon the roles of the family members according to their respective status inside the family, especially the father or mother or husband or wife. Fathers and husbands were recognized by the society to be having sufficient authority enough to conduct transactions that would directly affect the rights of the people who were being sold, like the wives or children. When the father was not there, the mother would conduct the selling of her own children. But her authority was only deemed secondary. And also limited as in certain cases the mother would not be condoned to exact her authorities on her own. Third, in cases of a pair of an older sister and a younger brother selling themselves, the older sister would lead the transaction. This shows us that in cases of sibling trades there has been little sexist distinction to the issue of 'who is authorized to conduct the trade'. But when it came down to choosing 'the child' to be sold, it should be noted that daughters rather than sons were chosen in overwhelmingly many cases. This seems to be caused at least partially by the difference in the amount of expectations the parents had with their sons and with their daughters. And because of the slavery system, which dictated that a new born child would inherit the social status of its mother and serve the same master of her too, the buyers were inclined to purchase females who were able to conceive a child, and this seems to have been one of the major reasons behind such trend of 'choosing the daughter more often' as well.