page_title: Society in the Joseon Dynasty
section_title: Structure
hierarchical_section_title: Society in the Joseon Dynasty / Structure
caption_attribution_description: One of the oldest photographs of Korean people
context_page_description: Society in the Joseon Dynasty was built upon Neo-Confucianist ideals, namely the three fundamental principles and five moral disciplines. There were four classes, the yangban nobility, the "middle class" chungin, sangmin, or the commoners and the cheonmin, the outcasts at the very bottom. Society was ruled by the yangban, who constituted 10% of the population and had several privileges. Slaves were of the lowest standing.
  During this period clan structure became stricter and bloodline was of utmost importance. Family life was regulated by law, strictly enforcing Confucian rituals. Compared to Goryeo practices before, marriage rituals were restructured and aggravated. Noblemen could have only one wife and several concubines but their children born from commoner or slave concubines were considered illegitimate and denied any yangban rights.
  The roles and rights of women were reduced compared to previous eras in Korean history. Yangban women were completely hidden from the outer world and every woman had to conform to Confucian ideals of purity, obedience, chastity and faithfulness.
context_section_description: The basis of Joseon society was a system similar to caste systems. Historian Baek Ji-won considers the Korean system comparable to that of India. According to Michael Seth, the Korean system could, in principle, be compared to India's (apart from the religious connotations). In practice, however, classes may not have been as impenetrable and clearly separated as in India. Bruce Cumings, on the other hand, thinks that the Korean structure cannot be called a true caste system but a system where certain castes existed.
  In theory, there were three social classes, but in practice, there were four. The top class were the yangban, or "scholar-gentry", the commoners were called sangmin or yangmin, and the lowest class was that of the cheonmin. Between the yangban and the commoners was a fourth class, the chungin, "middle people".
  The ruling class and the recipient of privileges was the yangban class. This elite aristocracy was hereditary and held most of the wealth, the slaves and the land. They were also called sadaebu, "scholar-officials", because when compared to Goryeo aristocracy or the Japanese bushido, they were not landowners who engaged in military actions.
  Yangban strove to do well at the royal examinations to obtain high positions in the government. They did not pay any form of taxes, and they avoided manual labor and conscription. However they had to excel in calligraphy, poetry, classical Chinese texts, and Confucian rites. In theory, commoners could apply for royal exams but in practice, from the 1600s, the family background of applicants was thoroughly checked and had to provide evidence of yangban status on their father's side up to three generations and one generation on the mother's side.
  Nobles lived separately from commoners, in designated areas of a town or village and spent most of their free time at Confucian academies or gisaeng houses. Yangban families were rare in the northern and eastern parts of the country and on Jeju Island and were mostly demoted yangban that were exiled there. High government positions were filled by yangban from Gyeongsang and Chungcheong provinces mainly. The scholar-aristocracy made up about 10% of Korea's population.
  Civilian offices (munban), as well as military posts (muban) were occupied by yangban men, the latter were filled by provincial yangban, whose only way to obtain a scholarly certificate was to become military officials. The men were prepared for the exam by the muhak, the military schools. From the mid-Joseon period, they belonged to different lineages than the civilian officials.
  Around 80% of Joseon society was made up of commoners, called sangmin. They were a free class, obliged to pay taxes, serve in the army, and undertake corvée labour. Peasants, artisans, fishermen and merchants made up this class, but merchants were regarded as lowly by yangban. Some peasants owned their lands, but others cultivated yangban property as tenants.
  The last place on the social ladder was the outsider class, the cheonmin. Slaves belonged here. They were divided into two groups: sanobi (private slaves) and gongnobi (slaves owned by the state). Both groups had "in-house slaves" (solgeo nobi) and "outside slaves" (oegeo nobi). The latter lived like any peasant, could own property and, just like peasants, gave a portion of the crop or textile tributes to their owners. The number of slaves fluctuated throughout the Joseon period: there were times when their numbers reached 30% of the population. Slaves could not have family names except for those who already had one when they became enslaved. In theory, marriage between slaves and commoners was forbidden, but the rule was often ignored. By the end of the dynasty, the number of slaves declined. State slavery was abolished in 1800 while private slavery was finally banned in 1894.
  Besides slaves, people of certain professions were also numbered among the cheonmin class. For example, professionals dealing with animal slaughter (butchers, people working with animal skins), most probably because of old Buddhist views. Innkeepers, gisaengs
caption: Photograph of a yangban man from 1863
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