1-1. Social Status System and the Characteristics of the Premodern Society

1-2. Social Status System of East Asia

1-3. Sui and Tang China and Their Codes of Law

1-4. Spread of the Legal Code System Throughout East Asia

1-5. The State Covee System, the Basis on which the State of Joseon was Managed

2-1. Basic Direction of Administration: Policies to Make All People Equal Subjects of the State

2-2. The Commoner and Base People System as the Framework for Managing State Affairs

2-3. How the State Operated

2-4. Preferential Treatment of Hereditary Elites

2-5. Conflict between the State Corvee System and Social Conventions

3-1. Ideal Dynastic System in the 15th Century

3-2. Crisis of the Dynasty Brought by the Tyranny of Yeonsangun

3-3. Bankruptcy of State Finances and the Increase of Tax Burden

3-4. Crisis of the Peasants and the Agitation of the Commoner and Base People System

3-5. Decline of the Commoner Class and the Surge in the Number of Slaves

4-1. People Who Amassed Wealth

4-2. Development of Farms

4-3. Official Recognition of Scholar-Officials and Their Right to be Exempt from Corporal Punishment

4-4. Scholar-Officials’ Right to Monopolize Regular Government Posts

4-5. Scholar-Officials’ Right to Govern Local Regions Outside of the Capital

5-1. Emergence of the Neo-Confucianists

5-2. Conflict between the Neo-Confucianists and the Royal Meritorious Relatives

5-3. Seize of Power by the Neo-Confucian Literati and Their Political Strife

5-4. Birth of the Seonbi, Scholars Adhering to the Doctrine of Neo-Confucianism

6-1. Main Military Forces of the East and West during the Premodern Era

6-2. Military Service as the Right to be Appointed to a Government Official

6-3. The Japanese Invasion of 1555

6-4. The Imjin War of 1592

6-5. End of the Era of Cavalry

8-1. Division of the Scholar-Official Class after the War

8-2. Differentiation of the Scholar-Official Class

8-3. Multilevel Local Communities

8-4. Political Struggles: The Case of Yean

8-5. Formation of Lineage Villages

9-1. Tale of Hong Gil-dong

9-2. Closed Path towards Social Advancement

9-3. Offspring of the Concubines of Yangban After the 17th Century

9-4. Movement to Open up the Way for Prestigious Positions in the Government

10-1. How to Understand the Direction of the Social Status System of Late Joseon

10-2. Hierarchy According to Social Status, or Status Hierarchy, in Gyeongsang Province of Late Joseon

10-3. Conditions to Become a Ruling-Class Yangban

10-4. Final Winer: Scholar-Officials Based in the Capital

10-5. Consequences of a Society Led by Powerful Families