Korean Confucianism - 6. Education, Confucian Values, and Economic Development in Twentieth-Century Korea
| Understanding Korea Series No.3 | ||
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This chapter presents the interplay between Confucian values and economic development in Korea from a broad and integrated standpoint of several qualitative factors involving cultural identity, education, social values, political economy, and so on. The focus of this chapter is to discuss the question of how Confucian values contributed to South Korea’s recent economic success.
목차
1. Western Views on “Confucian Capitalism”
It has been pointed out that the West had dwelt a lot on concrete economic ideas and facts such as trade, stock market, technology, inflation, political issues, and so on, but too little on the educational, social and ethical ones. It is now very sophisticated to talk about the global phenomenon of economy because its language of capitalism, wealth and power is conditioned by different cultural factors and norms.
What unites Japan and the four little dragons (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) for their economic success over the past several decades? Since the early 1980s, the West has studied this topic in terms of Confucianism and education. Several interpretations include such common phrases as “industrial Confucianism” and “Confucian capitalism,” pertaining these countries. There is general agreement that Confucian values indeed made a significant contribution by offering favorable cultural factors. For example, Vogel (1991; The Four Little Dragons....), a sociologist at Harvard, explained the economic success of the Four Little Dragons in terms of “industrial Neo-Confucianism,” referring to Confucian contribution to education and industry. Tai’s Confucianism and Economic Development: An Oriental Alternative (1989) is another relevant work on a similar topic. Peter Berger (1988; An East Asian Development Model), a leading comparative sociologist of religion, addressed the Confucian culture of political economy and capitalism in East Asia. In addition, Rozman’s edited The East Asian Region: Confucian Heritage and Its Modern Adaptation (1991) was a comparative study of modernization comparatively in China, Japan, and Korea.[1] We also have some other works on education and Confucian culture, such as Smith’s edited The Confucian Continuum: Educational Modernization in Taiwan (1991).
2. Education, Social Competition, and Economic Success in South Korea:
Commenting on South Korea’s social economy in the 1960s and 1970s, Edward Mason pointed out that an emphasis on academic education was “a major Confucian influence on the character of the modern blue- and white-collar work force” (1980:378). Addressing Confucianism in twenty-century Korea as a system of “political and social values,” Robinson (1991), a historian of Korea, pointed out that Confucian ideas made a contribution to the promotion of higher education, social order and political authoritarianism in South Korea. Palais (2002), a specialist in the study of Chosŏn Korean politics and policies, has similar perspectives about “Confucianism and economic development in South Korea.” However, this subject matter is not only about education and the socio-political order, but also pertains to other factors as well.
On the whole, the binding network of self-discipline, moral education, family culture, social competition, group productivity, political economy, and national identity played a crucial role in the process of economic development in South Korea. The strength of these cumulative values, which is associated with the Confucian self and community, played a major role in South Korea’s economic success. As I articulated elsewhere (1994a and 1995b), it contributed to the management of human relations and norms and the promotion of group harmony and productivity in workplaces. In South Korea, those values associated with Confucian principles are experienced in a holistic setting. We may call them social genes in almost every Korean person. For example, the five human relationships and their changing implications represent a cultural system based on the continuous harmony of moral, social and political orders, thereby carrying certain economic implications.
As we have seen in Chapter 4, ethical education was included in the Confucian way of self-cultivation, and this continues to be essential in South Korea’s curriculum system. Its role has been a crucial factor in giving a personal-ethical discipline to the whole enterprise of education and public life.
Furthermore, the intensive entrance examination system in South Korea reflects a social realm characterized by academic authority: those who succeed view themselves, and are viewed by others, as a meritocratic elite. This also made a positive contribution to the nation’s educational and social competition which was grounded in Confucian values; in the long run, it facilitated economic growth on both personal and collective levels. The public view is that education should promote not just intellectual learning but also moral education and its implication for the interplay between values, social competition, and economy.
3. The Mother’s Role and Contribution
Another central aspect of Confucian culture raises the question of family culture, the mother’s role, and economic success in East Asia. I pointed out elsewhere (1994a and 1995b) that the family remains a moral educational unit that consistently maintains Confucian-influenced values in South Korea.
We have to address the topic of how women working at home contributed educationally and economically. Recent studies and statistical results on the school systems of East Asia and North America indicate an interesting comparative fact. It is said that North American schools teach students how to think and study creatively and critically. However, on any objective scale of international tests, the Korean, Chinese, and Japanese students always do better in the key subjects including math, science, and writing. There can be various reasons for this success in East Asia: elite culture, competitive entrance examinations, more schools days, tougher school discipline, prep schools and private tutors, and so on. These factors are basically influenced by the elite Confucian mentality that emphasized academic excellence, personal development, and social success.
And yet, the most important contributor is arguably the Korean mother’s role at home. Among Koreans and other East Asians, the real intellectual and cultural transmitter in the early lives of young children is overwhelmingly the mother. In a detailed article on Confucianism and women in modern Korea, I discussed a similar topic in terms of continuity, change and synthesis. On the whole, the relationship between Confucian values and the mother’s role is an important topic that needs to be studied further.
4. Confucian Values and Political Economy
As mentioned in Chapter 5, the Confucian tradition is intertwined with an agricultural and political economy within a family-centered social structure, a hierarchical central bureaucracy, and an authority-based national polity. This is partly why Pye (1985) emphasized Confucian culture as an essential part of the idea of political authority in East Asia. The authoritarian political legacy is also said to have facilitated a rapid economic development in South Korea, for instance.
However, this topic is related to other factors as well. In South Korea, the modern Confucian notion of political leadership still plays a vital role in economic development. Tu Weiming (1992), a leading scholar in Confucian Studies, recently articulated Confucian influence on political order, the state, and economic development in modern East Asia: The public generally expects the central government to impose strong leadership in many areas. Accordingly, the economy is expected to be directly under some authority of the state in ruling the nation. The state therefore leads or promotes commercial and industrial developments.
Regarding the South Korean case, it is generally believed that the best government ought to engage with many levels of society; this is expressed not only in the political and economic context, but also in ethical, educational and social terms. On the whole, the South Korean economy has been under full state control under rigid regulations; this was indeed productive at least until the 1990s. In recent years, however, it has generated a major problem, as the economy has become very complex. The problem is usually addressed in terms of financial-political collusion and corruption involving the so-called chebŏl entrepreneurs and groups. In a capitalistic Western sense, this may be a major political weakness of South Korean economy.
5. Conclusion
The diffused nature of academic competition, group loyalty, and group productivity is incorporated into the national discourse on capitalistic economy and national development in South Korea, which seems to reveal something like an integrated Confucian mode of educational-social-and-economic thinking. To conclude, we need to recognize the influence of Confucian categories on the structure and operation of specific economic, political, and educational institutions in modern Korea
Footnote
- ↑ This volume includes Kim Haboush’s article, “Confucianization of Korean Society,” and Robinson’s article, “Perceptions of Confucianism in Twentieth-Century Korea.”
