The Korean Culture and Its Transition

汪蝶

Much of Korean values and cultures are based on Confucianism， which was first introduced to Korean late in the Koryo dynasty ended in 1392 and adopted as the state ideology by the succeeding Choson dynasty. Today， with the development of its Society， it is experiencing some apparent transition.

The economist Tyler Cowen has pointed out that America has more than 3000 halls of fame. Thats to say， if a person does not have the talent for one hall of fame， all other roads lead to Rome. However， Given the Confucian heritage， the emphasis on education seems to be quite rational. Virtually the only way to take off used to be education in the past. Being a scholar represents owning the top status of society. But what cant be ignored is that recently other halls of fame have been created playing a great role in the modern society. For example， as we all know， the entertainment industry is still in full swing， whose contribution to its GDP is up to around 15%. The social status of people who climb this hall of fame is no longer as inferior as before； instead， they earn respect for their effort as well. For ordinary foreigners， when talking about Korean， what comes to their mind first must be K-pop， stylized form of music， soup operas and anything like this.

Just as many other Asian countries like Japan and China， Korean is a classic hierarchical culture based on authority and subordination， which extends to relationships in families and organizations. It is always a widely accepted value in their society that people in the subordinate position are supposed to follow others those in the superior positions For instance， in the workplace， older people are more likely to be promoted while the youngest members are obliged to follow the instruction of their seniors and do some chores such as buying coffee， or taking out the trash Although such deep-rooted hierarchy is not likely to change totally in the near future， some organizations have begun to take steps to de-emphasize age in favor of performance when promoting employees and managers. Since the late 1980s， the Korean government has launched a performance-based system of civil servant evaluation. The civil servants salary， promotion and benefits are related not to their age but their performance

According to the three cardinal guides， Women always stand in a relatively subordinate position compared to men. Women traditionally have entered and exited elevators after men， helped men with their coats and followed dutifully behind them as they walked down the street. However， with the improvement of the modern practices and female education， more and more women are jumping out of the circle to fight for their rights and seek for fortunes， although still facing difficulties in the workforce. The gap between median earnings of men and women is about 40 %， in comparison to a gap of about 21% in the US. Apparently the lack of opportunities has motivated many women to seek opportunities outside of Korean.

Just as Martin J. Gannon and Rajnandini Pillai mentioned in their book Understanding Global Cultures， Korean has created a modern society in which many of its members live by traditional rules colliding with the modern practice. As an island country with scarce natural resources， Korean has to cooperate with the rest of the world， meaning theyll have to adjust the Confucian-based value to adapt the modern practices. That is what makes up the Korean culture today.