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Essay / Modernizing Family Values in Korea
The cultures of all societies develop over time and family values are a part of the culture of a society that has always intrigued me. Many factors can impact how family values develop and there are many different ways to see them reflected. In order to have a meaningful discussion about the modern family, we must first delve into the history of Korean family values and some of the major factors that have changed the culture. I will discuss the history of this from Confucian values, how the Korean War had massive impacts, and how this leads us to modern Korea. This brings me to the main question of this essay. Globalization has been the most influential factor in the changing structure of Korean families. I want to explore how this has been represented in pop culture. In my opinion, pop culture is a really good representation of how Korean family values have changed over the years and how they affect societies. Media forms and pop culture make people ask the most difficult questions about their society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay To begin, we need a good starting point for our historical context. For the purposes of this article, I decided, unimportantly, to focus on the specifics when one would usually have this information available for historical writing. For the purposes of this research, history plays only one role in understanding traditional cultures. That being said, what can be considered traditional for this purpose extends over a very long period. Until the dawn of the 20th century, Korea existed under the name of the Chosun dynasty. This dynasty was, in large part, a society built on the ideals of Confucianism. Moreover, even beyond Japanese colonial rule, we can still say that it was the main ideology and culture in Korea. In short, for the purposes of this study, I will consider this period as if it were an era of traditional Korean culture. The main visible culture, regardless of one's view of traditional Korean family culture and structure, is that of the patriarchal household. . In Korea, men have traditionally benefited from this “men first” family culture. An example of early traditional family cultures is the belief that the family should be treated as a benevolent monarchy, in which the eldest man was the head of the household. Clearly, the culture of segregation would have created an interesting dynamic within families. Continuing on this theme, “in the ancient family system, parents arranged marriages without the consent of their children, whether female or male.” This shows very clearly that in Korea, family cultures were influenced by the agricultural nature of their society. In urban societies, such as South Korea today, such strict family structures would not be sustainable for families. A final example of traditional family culture is that in Korean homes, elderly people are cared for by their families. Although in recent years this has become a heated debate in Korea. Then, after Japanese colonial rule, another wave of influence spread around South Korea in the form of American intervention. However, let me begin this part of our discussion with a brief word on the nature of warand its effects. To anyone who has studied or participated in war, it is clear that war separates and destroys families. In the case of the Korean Civil War, it can be said that this was even more amplified since it was a war based on ideological disagreements within Korean society. As with wars of this nature, families must choose sides and it is not always the same. . As Americans, we can to some extent understand this political tension in our modern context. Right-wing politics versus left-wing politics, I know from personal experience that in our last elections families were also torn apart. Furthermore, another obvious assessment of a war would be that of losses. This is directly related to the impact and evolution of family structure in Korea. A whole new generation of women and children left without husbands and fathers has been created. Along these lines, Korea also experienced very rapid modernization during this period. To me, there is a clear connection between this and the rise of women's independence in Korea. Korea is a country that has undergone a rapid modernization process and is today one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Their industry is dominated by a group of companies called Chaebol, which are among the largest multinational corporations. All this success is partly due to the effect of globalization on the country. Many changes occurred in Korean society with this change. Nevertheless, after the Korean War, it is clear that the most significant steps towards modernization were taken. Furthermore, it was from then on that this process had the greatest impact on Korean households. Industrialization, following the initial pressure of globalization, changed the landscape of how people lived. People quickly began to move into cities, and with this change, large family households were quickly eradicated from family cultures. Furthermore, ideological changes have moved South Korean society away from patriarchal familism and toward democratic ideas about individualism. Finally, with the growing influence of the United States in South Korea, we also see a clear relationship between the growth of Christianity. Naturally, this caused tension between the different ideas of family taught by traditional Korean ideologies and those that accompanied different forms of Christianity. In general, there has been the spread of Christianity, modern law, the popularization of modern education, urbanization and institutionalization resulting from globalization. This brings us to the world of mass media and pop culture that we live in today. The rapid modernization of Korean technology has caused families to spend more time than ever interacting with some form of media. With approximately 98.5% of South Korean households owning a television, it's safe to say that tech literacy is widespread. Numerous studies show that “television, as a medium, exerts the greatest influence on people’s daily lives.” Given the high penetration of television media in the Korean market, this argument carries a lot of weight (Korea). Because Korean media has many foreign (especially Western) influences, the lifestyles depicted are often brought into conflict with many traditional aspects of Korean family structure. When systematically subjected to this form of influence, it “can elicit certain behaviors from the public.” Today, many of these behaviors might simply be an activity..