‘양반되기’ 서사를 통해 본 조선시대 양반의 조건 -「구복막동」과 「양반전」을 중심으로-

Abstract

Gubok Makdong [Male Slave Makdong] and Yangbanjeon [Story of Aristocrat] are among the narratives written in Chinese characters, and were popular in the late Joseon Dynasty. This paper examines what strategies the male slave Makdong adopted to be a yangban, aristocrat, and why a rich man in Jeonseon County refused to become a yangban even if it was possible to buy the status. Makdong became a yangban through four steps by adopting ten strategies. In contrast, a rich man in Jeongseon County who owned only material wealth refused to become yangban because he only pursued material profits lacking cultural background and social conditions as yangban, and did not understand the yangban culture. While Makdong, as 'hono' slave, had opportunities to learn yangban culture, the rich man in Jeongseon did not have such opportunities. Whether one was literate was one of the crucial factors. The yangban in Joseon Dynasty was equipped with economic, social, and cultural conditions as aristocrats. Researchers dealing with status upgrading in the late Joeseon Dynasty have argued that the yanban status could be bought easily, focusing only on the economic aspect. But, Gubok Makdong and Yangbanjeon reveal that such arguments are based on so much fragmental understanding of the era. In any society any time where there are class or status divisions between the upper and the lower ones, there have been efforts to 'keep up with' the upper class among members of the lower class, on the one hand, and, efforts to 'differentiate themselves from the lower class' among members of the upper class, on the other hand. Consequently, when we consider both the two different kinds of efforts, we can get the real variety of a specific society.