Confucian State or Ultra-Modern State? Leadership and Family Values in South Korea

South Korea is perceived in diverse ways by the international community: in modern times, as an OECD country with a strong economy, as a stable democracy, and as a society with a strong culture of protest movements, manifest in frequent public demonstrations on political and social issues. In history, by contrast, Korea is depicted as a model Confucian state with a society characterised by strong family values. This is, in large part, a product of the European and North American historical experience and perspective, in which family issues are perceived to belong only to the private sphere while politics is part of the public sphere. This lecture demonstrates, however, that the two spheres are not so clearly demarcated in the Korean case, and that political culture and leadership are closely connected with Korean concepts of ‘family values’, past and present. The lecture explores the relationship between the ‘family’ and ‘political’ spheres, looking at institutions, such as the household head system (hojuje), in order to shed light on the many and complex ways in which family shapes (and is shaped by) political culture.