Plurality Within Singularity: Chosŏn Korea’s Neo-Confucian Framework

Abstract

This paper argues that while there was no singular cohesive “national identity” in the modern sense in Chosŏn Korea, the elitist Neo-Confucian framework served as a basis for establishing an overarching identity on the Korean Peninsula. Every other entity defined itself through its relationship to the prominent Neo-Confucian framework. Two marginalized groups – Buddhist institutions and the Catholic Church—defined themselves and developed identities based around the Neo-Confucian framework; this paper analyzes this. By demonstrating that these two marginalized groups had no choice but to define themselves in terms of the Neo-Confucian framework, it is clear this framework also created an elitist identity built around its intellectual culture.