Korean Confucianism - 7. Confucianism and Globalization: National Identity and Cultural Assimilation

This chapter explores the interplay between tradition and globalization in South Korea by focusing on the situation and role of Confucian values. There are some fascinating things about this topic. Can globalization do away with national identity and cultural values? The notion of “globalization” in South Korea seems to be understood by addressing certain cultural factors. What is the future of Confucian values in Korea? Is there any fruitful interaction between tradition and globalization?

1. Confucian Values and National Identity

There is some ambiguity about the “religious identity” of Confucianism, as I pointed out in Chapter 1. This is usually because East Asians generally do not acknowledge Confucianism religiously as explicitly as organized religions like Christianity and Buddhism. As we explored in Chapters 5 and 6, Confucianism is a living tradition in South Korea, a religiously pluralistic and competitive country, where the Confucian mode of thinking influences various levels of society. Confucianism exists as a diffused tradition ethically and culturally, and its basic patterns are recently reported in scholarly Korean works and public surveys. Koreans are Confucians at least in the cultural context of maintaining these traditional values to varying degrees.

Family Values and Rites

Family culture in South Korea is a key example of influence by the Confucian tradition. Confucianism places primary emphasis on proper human relations and the cultivation of virtue, so as to enrich human nature, family, and society. Family values remain the backbone of changing Korean society. In the traditional context, family is believed to be not just a biological-social unit, but also a living educational-ethical center for human relationships. The moral-spiritual foundation of the Confucian tradition remains the family, whose broader implications naturally expand to education, work ethic, work places, group dependency, etc. This is also said to have contributed to South Korea’s rapid economic development in the past three decades, as we have learned in Chapter 6.

Core family values are generally Confucian in today’s Korea. It is reasonable to point out that many Christians and Buddhists assimilate these values. As mentioned in Chapter 10, we can easily see a similar pattern of the family tradition among Korean or other East Asian communities in the large multicultural cities in North America such as Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, etc. Chapter 5 also discussed how family morality is essentially Confucian in nature: in particular, parental benevolence, filial piety (hyo), and mutual obligations are emphasized for family love and solidarity. In this regard, the family in today’s Korea maintains an essential life of its own on its own terms; this is central to Korean identity and Confucian cultural moral heritage. For this reason, many Korean families continue to observe their ancestral memorial rites at home or grave sites on special national holidays. These family rites continuously influence South Korea with the modernized Confucian style of ritual propriety. Chapter 9 will discuss this topic further in terms of ancestral rites and family moral spirituality.

Social Ethics and Korean identity

Family values associated with Confucianism help promoting moral education, social binding, and Korean identity. Confucian social ethics is based on the so-called Five Relationships, which are intended to be regulated by the two principles of status reciprocity and mutual obligation. So it emphasized a fundamental belief in human dignity, moral equality, and social harmony, which leads Koreans to consider themselves socially engaged and psychologically accepted in a network of groups. Proper human relationships are usually seen as a desirable part of maintaining group life; as I pointed out in the preceding chapter, this is actually taught in school textbooks on ethics and society. So people are aware of a hierarchical social structure, have a sense of group belonging, and maintain collective formalism and norms. The ethical part of daily Korean conversations is often reminiscent of the basic Confucian discourse: i.e., higher learning and personal cultivation are ideal for successful career, family reputation, social competition, and cultural prosperity.

It is also worthwhile to note that the integrated strength of these values played a major role in competitive education, group dependency, and productivity in workplaces, most of which contributed to South Korea’s rapid economic success during the past three decades. As we have explored in Chapter 6, Confucian ideals, often under other names, guided the nation in the direction of economic development.

Political Culture and Moral Ideals

Traditionally Confucian ethics emphasizes benevolent government (sage-ruler) over despotic government (tyrant ruler), together with the virtues of humanity, righteousness, and wisdom. It is worthwhile to note Confucian influence on political culture in East Asia. Belief in the inseparability between politics and morality occupies a major position in Korean attitudes toward the central state and its exemplary leadership. The public often asserts that the best government ought integrate many public sectors of society, as is consistently echoed in the Korean press. Most people talk about not just democratic government and policies, but also the ethical and social obligations of the central state. Indeed, this kind of public awareness is often informed by the traditional values associated with Confucianism.

The basic insight is contained in the ideal of self-cultivation as the root of political leadership and social well-being. So it seems that the public utilizes an ethical language which is reminiscent of the Confucian teaching, emphasizing the unity of personal discipline, family regulation, and social-political orders. This kind of public discourse has been effective in a country like South Korea, where the heart of political culture embodies traditional values.

2. Tradition and Globalization: Cultural Assimilation

Urbanization and industrialization have boosted the Korean people into modern standards of living. Furthermore, the modern West is something that has to be considered seriously because of its economic and political impact on South Korea and other East Asian nations. The process of “modernization” (hyŏndae hwa) in South Korea will continue engaging some elements of “Westernization” (sŏyang hwa) as well as the growing trend of “globalization” (kukjae hwa in Korean). So the Confucian value system is readjusting itself to the rapid economic and social changes introduced since the 1980s. The recent statistics and surveys indicate many significant developments. In short, the younger generations’ perspectives now maintain a much stronger impact on many economic and social aspects of Korean society.

They often point to contemporary ideas, setting the new standards for self-identity. Since the beginning of this century, popular home dramas and talk shows on T.V., for example, portray them as the so-called “new generations” (sin sedae), “internet generations” (netijŭn sedae), or “global generations” (gllobal sedae). Their personal and social images seem to be as contemporary and liberalized as their peers in North America, for instance.

On the whole, we certainly see enough influence of urbanization, democratization, market economy, high technology, and globalization on these social changes in South Korea. Surely, a great deal of transformation in the Korean family system and social relationships has occurred. The contemporary notion of self (and/or family) now co-exists with the Korean-Confucian tradition of values.

Certain new issues have also emerged in the nation. Since the 1990s, South Korea tried to implement several reform measures partly under the influence of global Western ideas and institutions such as political accountability, business transparency, etc. On the whole, non-egalitarian norms and unfair stereotypes are strongly challenged not just by younger generations themselves, but also by the new legal and social standards. For example, the one-sided, authoritarian legacy such as the subjugation of inferiors and juniors to superiors and seniors is highly criticized and thus being reduced. This trend of change surely pertains to the globalizing process that accommodates (if not welcomes) certain Western ideas, as evidenced in the persuasive power of democracy, liberty, market economy, and privacy.

Nonetheless, the public is also becoming concerned with an increasing individualism, which has been criticized for “neglecting (traditional) moral values.” This neglect is said to be a side-effect of accepting Western ideas and emphasizing economic and social globalization. This is now stimulating certain intellectuals to debate the extent to which “globalization” can damage national identity and values.

The generational gap issue, which may have something to do with the Korean value system, is not as serious as the economic, employment and political problems. In fact, the public often expresses the relevance of political responsibility for economic development and social well-being in a common-sense language reminiscent of Confucian ethics. The implicit language embedded in various public discourses indicate an ethical tradition in terms of political leadership, nation-building, and cultural prosperity. In other words, it utilizes a modern moral-political language reminiscent of Confucian humanism. The nation’s value system is often mentioned in relation to social justice and the people’s well-being. South Korea not only engages global ideas and new concerns but also recognizes traditional values and assimilates its moral tradition as a key element of Korean identity.

In other words, the idea of change–whether educational, economic, or political–is not necessarily taken to be either a conscious rejection of the past, or a total departure from the respected tradition. The Korean people’s attitudes toward traditional values also vary according to certain generational, economic, occupational, and gender-related factors. There are two basic trends: the older one requiring hierarchy, authority, and order; and the other, growing pattern toward reciprocity, harmony, and mutual duty. And our recognition of the latter trend would help us to avoid stereotyping Confucian ethics only negatively and to understand its contemporary relevance positively. In general, the notion of “Korean identity” usually engages the basic human relationships and values. In other words, there is more public desire for harmony rather than confrontation between the traditional values and the new global standards.

3. Conclusion

Confucian humanism remains in the backbone of Korean society. Its role in the interplay between tradition, globalization, and national identity is significant from the Korean perspective of the 2000s. This shows not just different ways to debate the whole idea of globalization, but also the need for reexamining the meaning of tradition. In this regard, I note that the word “globalization” is not something fully understood if we discuss it only in terms of economic things such as capitalism, market economy, economic policies, technology, etc.

In a broader sense, the Korean understanding of globalization appears to be conditioned by certain cultural values and customs. So the actual process of globalization could take different forms depending on these cultural factors. The Korean notion certainly embodies some “Western stuff” and its globalizing trends. However, we cannot ignore the fact that some of these imported, international elements are also integrated with Korea’s traditional values and ideals.

What we find fascinating about the ongoing situation of Confucianism in South Korea is that there seems to be some mutual balance between traditional values and global mentality. And we can learn more about this trend of East-West marriage in the coming years.