The Korean Mind. Boye Lafayette De MenteЧитать онлайн книгу.
two hundred years of the Choson dynasty the system gradually broke down, in part because growing numbers of yangban lost their elite status when no one in their families could pass the civil service exams. Commoners could legally sit for the civil service examinations during the Choson period, but appointments to all public offices were monopolized by the leading yangban, who formed factions and fought continuously, overtly and covertly, for power.
As more time passed, people from the middle and “technical” classes began rising in the bureaucracy. The number of slaves began to drop dramatically. In the 1700s a number of young yangban, along with members of the chugin (chuu-gheen), “middle class,” and the lower class were converted to Christianity and its principles of equality and democracy.
When Western missionaries began flocking to Korea after the country was forced to reopen its doors to the outside world in 1876, they reported enthusiastically on the peace and calm that reigned in the countryside as well as the towns and cities. One missionary wrote in a 1908 letter that Korea was a nation of silence, that there was very little recreation for common people, and that among the most common sights were farmers working in their fields and middle-aged and older men sitting around outside, smoking tobacco in quiet contemplation.
But the Korea that emerged in the 1880s from its long hermit period was soon to become anything but a “Land of Morning Calm.” Japan began dominating the peninsula in the 1890s and in 1910 annexed the country, making it into a province in the Japanese empire. The normally peaceful Koreans did not accept Japanese domination casually. Prior to and after the annexation Korean patriots engaged in violent street protests, local rebellions, and guerrilla activities in the mountains.
The Japanese period ended with Japan’s defeat in World War II in 1945, but within seven years after regaining its sovereignty Korea was torn apart by the Korean War (1950-53).
Choson still has meaning for Koreans, evoking nostalgic images of golden ages of the past. In addition to the internationally known Chosun Hotel in Seoul, the name is also widely used in company names. Chosun Ilbo (Choh-suun Eelboh), or “The Daily Chosun,” is one of Korea’s most important newspapers.
Chung 충 Chuung
Groupism as Morality
Koreans have survived for five millennia or more as a society and as a distinctive people because they are bound together and influenced by common beliefs, aspirations, and dangers. But there is more to the coherence of Korean society and the national character of Koreans than what normally results from these shared influences. One additional element was the emotional and intellectual homogenization of Koreans to the point that chung (chuung), or “group consciousness,” virtually replaced individual awareness. (Chung is also the Korean word for “loyalty.” See the next entry.)
In areas where the emotional and intellectual fusion of Koreans was incomplete, powerful sanctions were brought into play to force people to behave in the same way even if they did not think in exactly the same way. Chung was the goal, no matter what it took to achieve. To make group consciousness totally acceptable to people, Korea’s elite ruling class deliberately introduced the most powerful psychological factor of all. They equated chung with morality, making conformity in both thought and action the ultimate standard for moral behavior.
From the beginning of the Chosun dynasty in 1392 until modern times, the moral value used to support chung was a new brand of Confucianism that made filial piety and ancestor worship the primary foundation of society. While total chung was never achieved at any time in Korean history, it came close during the middle centuries of the long Choson era—close enough that most Koreans seemed to have been cast from the same cultural mold, as fraternal if not identical cultural twins.
Between 1400 and 1900 the concept of group consciousness became so deeply embedded in the psyche of the people that its influence is still readily visible today, even though Koreans are no longer compelled to think and act alike for political or moral reasons. In many areas of life opinions and behavior vary greatly, but in such things as courtesy, dignity, respect, pride, and ambition, chung continues to prevail.
Foreign diplomats and businesspeople involved with Korea must deal with chung in almost every encounter, which often means repressing their tendency to concentrate on and depend on the individuality of their contacts. In most cases Koreans are still not free to act as individuals because the effects of centuries of conditioning to think and behave in terms of group interests continue to permeate their culture. Acting on their own is tantamount to disowning their group and virtually assuring that they will be severely criticized if not ostracized.
When self-centered Westerners are first exposed to the degree of chung -based morality that exists in Korea, they generally regard it as both irrational and inhuman. But the fact is, of course, that a substantial degree of chung is absolutely essential for the smooth functioning of any society and represents an advanced state of social maturity that is sorely and conspicuously absent in the United States and many other Western countries.
Individualistic Western businesspeople often find themselves seriously handicapped by the groupist morality of Koreans. But rather than viewing chung as a negative and as something that Koreans should give up, these self-directed Westerners should try to meet their Korean counterparts halfway and develop some chung of their own.
Educated Koreans with cross-cultural experience are well aware that their group-based morality often conflicts with the interests, intentions, and actions of Westerners. Many are under constant pressure to give up their traditional way of thinking and doing things and adopt the Western way. A few Koreans are making the switch to accommodate their foreign business associates. But most Koreans feel very strongly that their traditional way is superior to the Western way and are not inclined to change.
Chung 충 Chuung
Loyalty in a Korean Setting
Koreans traditionally emphasized chung (chuung), or “loyalty,” in their literature, teaching, and behavior. But loyalty in the traditional culture of Korea was not a universal concept or practice that applied to people in a general sense. It was a carefully defined and prescribed kind of behavior that was based on Confucian concepts of male superiority, authoritarianism, a hierarchical society, ancestor worship, regionalism, and other circumstantial factors. In its Korean context, loyalty came under the heading of what is now called situation ethics.
In general terms the first obligation of individual Koreans has traditionally been absolute loyalty to their immediate families. The second priority was loyalty to kin, followed by loyalty to friends, community, and the nation at large. Most of these loyalty obligations were fixed at birth and in essence were immutable regardless of the feelings involved. The closed nature of Korean families, communities, and society in general severely limited the number of personal relationships individuals could develop and therefore kept obligations for loyal behavior narrowly focused.
Chung in its Confucian context was, of course, a social principle linked to virtue. On an individual basis, virtue was demonstrated by acts of loyalty. The other side of the chung principle was that those to whom loyalty was extended were expected to be virtuous and therefore deserving of the loyalty, implying that people were not required to be loyal to the undeserving. In actual practice, however, lack of virtue in the case of fathers, other family members of superior status, and local or national authorities did not automatically release people from obligations of loyalty. Those in power could and usually did demand loyalty regardless of their own character and punished those whom they considered disloyal.
The Confucian concept of loyalty still prevails in Korea, but it has become less focused and less one-sided in response to the growth of individualism, personal choice, and personal responsibility. Young people no longer blindly obey abusive or unfair fathers; wives no longer remain loyal to abusive or distant husbands, opting for divorce instead; workers who feel they are not being paid or treated properly regularly change jobs without suffering any pangs of Confucian shame.
Probably the most conspicuous example of chung in Korea today is toward the nation as a whole. Koreans are especially proud of their country. Their pride and loyalty results in their willingly making sacrifices to benefit all of Korea.
Foreign managers in Korea