Origin of Korea's family system

By Mark Peterson

How old is the Bugye family system (patrilineal system) in Korea?

One of the hallmarks of traditional Korean society has been the dominance of patrilineal descent groups and the dominance of males over females, that is usually attributed to Confucianism. Americans don't usually use the phrase "patrilineal descent group," a rather technical term, used in anthropology ― most would rather call it the "patriarchy" or patriarchal society ― but the term "bugye sahoe" is well-known in Korea. It's their system; they've got a name for it.

Everyone in Korea tends to understand that traditional society was male-dominated ― instead of "ladies first" as in the West, it was "men first, women after" (namseon, yeohu). But the bugye sahoe meant more than that. Inheritances went only to sons, mostly the eldest son. And the tradition of the eldest son, of the eldest son, of the eldest son, for multiple generations has led to the concept of the "jongson" ― the "lineage heir" who lives in the "big house" (keunjip) where all the descendants meet for rituals. On holidays, even in 2018, families congregate at the "keunjip" to perform ceremonies (and it's also a family reunion).

The concept of a bugye society may not be well understood by Westerners, but everyone in Korea knows what it is. It's a term that means something ― it, more than any other term, describes traditional society. It isn't a negative term, necessarily, but it is often used in a mostly negative way. The term, for most, is used to describe the social dimensions of what is thought of as a Confucian society. Confucianism is an ideology and a philosophy, but when we think of traditional society, we often speak of Confucianism as a set of practices, and those practices are dominated by men.

The main religious practice in Confucianism is the ancestor ceremony. Those ceremonies were conducted by men ― with the women in the background preparing the food. Inheritances went mainly to the eldest son who became responsible for hosting the ceremonies. In these ways, and many others, the bugye society meant a society centered on men.

The jokbo, the genealogy, was a set of printed books that listed every member of the lineage, or if the lineage was too large, a subsection of the lineage would publish their own jokbo. In any case, the genealogy is a visual representation of the lineage group or the clan ― the technical term is the patrilineage ― or the patrilineal descent group. Societies dominated by such groups (again, the bugye, in Korea) can be called a social organization defined by the idea of "men, related to men, through men." And the jokbo is a graphic depiction of that fact ― it is a chart of men, related to men, through men. Women, as wives, marry into the men's family, and daughters are married out to other men's families.

Sometimes people say that there are no women in the jokbo ― and some jokbo do omit many details about the women of the family ― but it is incorrect to say that there are no women at all. Still, the fact that some people even suggest that women are not included highlights the fact that the jokbo is centered on the men of the clan.

The jokbo can be called a kind of snapshot of the pre-modern clan and family organization.

There's more to be said about the structure and nature of the bugye system, but I'll leave it at that for now, except to say that my message today is about the origins of this bugye system and a general misunderstanding of most contemporary people in Korea today about this social system. The general misunderstanding is that the system has been around for approximately forever. In reality, in historical terms, it's been a relatively short period of time.

My theme song lately, has been the view of the frog from outside the well, and in that regard, I have a view of the origins of the bugye system that is different from most of my Korean friends.

My view, from outside of the well, is that the bugye system (patrilineal family system) of Korea is a recent import, and runs counter to the original and true family system of Korea that pre-dates the importation of the bugye system.

In my view, the bugye system of Korea is only 300 years old, or so, and that it should be seen as a Chinese import. The true Korean family system that pre-dated the importation of the Chinese-style, Confucian-oriented system was one that was not dominated by men. Prior to 1700 (or 1680 or 1660 in some families) the Korean family structure was more balanced between men and women, for example, daughters had equal inheritance rights in the household. Sons and daughters divided the parents' property equally.

The division of property was absolutely and precisely equal regardless of the gender or birth sequence of the sons and daughters. In other words, male or female, old or young, first-born or last-born, all had equal shares of the inheritance.

And the bugye system, we can know, was not really that old. A more detailed explanation will follow in my next installment.

Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is associate professor of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.

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