Social Status System of the Joseon Dynasty and Yangban
Course Introduction
This course delves into the formation and development of the social status system of the Joseon dynasty. By the examination of the social status system, students will learn not only Joseon’s state administration and society, but also the overall changes in Joseon’s society such as its politics, society, and economy.
Course Structure
This course consists of 10 weeks of lecture. The lecture each week consists of 3 to 4 videos depending on the themes of the course. The course includes non-video learning components such as quizzes and supplementary reading materials to allow learners to organize and review the content of the course. Students are required to watch the weekly lecture videos and complete the learning activities to be credited for the course requirements each week.
Subtitles
Korean, English, Chinese
1. Social Status System of the Joseon Dynasty
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1
1-1. Social Status System and the Characteristics of the Premodern Society -
2
1-2. Social Status System of East Asia
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3
1-3. Sui and Tang China and Their Codes of Law
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4
1-4. Spread of the Legal Code System Throughout East Asia
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5
1-5. The State Covee System, the Basis on which the State of Joseon was Managed
2. Social Status System Operated in Early Joseon
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6
2-1. Basic Direction of Administration: Policies to Make All People Equal Subjects of the State
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7
2-2. The Commoner and Base People System as the Framework for Managing State Affairs
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8
2-3. How the State Operated
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9
2-4. Preferential Treatment of Hereditary Elites
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10
2-5. Conflict between the State Corvee System and Social Conventions
3. Collapse of the State Corvee System and the Deterioration of the Commoner and Base People System
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11
3-1. Ideal Dynastic System in the 15th Century
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12
3-2. Crisis of the Dynasty Brought by the Tyranny of Yeonsangun
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13
3-3. Bankruptcy of State Finances and the Increase of Tax Burden
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14
3-4. Crisis of the Peasants and the Agitation of the Commoner and Base People System
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15
3-5. Decline of the Commoner Class and the Surge in the Number of Slaves
4. Newly Emerging Social Class of Scholar-Officials in the 1520s
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16
4-1. People Who Amassed Wealth
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17
4-2. Development of Farms
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18
4-3. Official Recognition of Scholar-Officials and Their Right to be Exempt from Corporal Punishment
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19
4-4. Scholar-Officials’ Right to Monopolize Regular Government Posts
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20
4-5. Scholar-Officials’ Right to Govern Local Regions Outside of the Capital
5. Seize of Power by the Neo-Confucian Literati and the Spread of the Neo-Confucian order
6. Scholar Officials as the Defenders of the State
7. Establishment of the Ruling Structure of Scholar-Officials
8. Differentiation of the Scholar-Official Class and the Adjustment of Hierarchy
9. Issues on the Offspring of the Concubines of Yangban
10. Emergence of a Society Led by Powerful Families and the Historical Consequences in the 18th and 19th Centuries
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44
10-1. How to Understand the Direction of the Social Status System of Late Joseon
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45
10-2. Hierarchy According to Social Status, or Status Hierarchy, in Gyeongsang Province of Late Joseon
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46
10-3. Conditions to Become a Ruling-Class Yangban
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47
10-4. Final Winer: Scholar-Officials Based in the Capital
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48
10-5. Consequences of a Society Led by Powerful Families
Sung-Woo Kim
Sung-Woo Kim received his doctorate from Korea University with a dissertation titled “The Growth of Yangban-Literaty and Change of Status Structure in the Mid-Choson Period.” He is currently a professor at Daegu Haany University.