Rational Rendering of Confucian Relationships in Contemporary Korea

Abstract

This paper aims at a theoretical understanding of Confucian authorityrelations in contemporary Korea, especially within the framework ofrational choice and the concept of habitus (as in Bourdieu). First, wediscuss the source of naturalization or the legitimate basis of Confucianauthority, identifying how the age-differential hierarchy is rendered asthe Durkheimean sense of sacred. Second, we trace the route of howSeongnihak, or Neo-Confucianism, was received and modified as anorthodox ethical principle and social ideology in the Joseon dynasty.Third, I will introduce discussions of the workings of Confucian author-ity as habitus. Then, we try to see how this habitus aspect can berevealed in its working on everyday practices. Fifth, some basic con-cepts and principles related with separating equilibrium in informa-tion asymmetry situation will be explained. Using these analyticaltools, we try to answer how the ethical and formal principle of Confu-cian authority relation, theye, is rationally explained in various socialinstances, in terms of distribution of social resources.