ABSTRACT

The economic growth and modernization Korea has undergone over the past 50 years has produced dramatic changes in many aspects of Korean society and its people’s lives. As Korea has changed from an agrarian subsistence economy to a capitalist market economy, from absolute kingship to a modern representative democracy, and from a patriarchal extended family to an egalitarian nuclear family, traditional institutions have been superseded by modern versions. For example, the traditional status system that divided population into four broad hereditary groups was abolished long ago, in favor of a modern democratic social system that guarantees equality, freedom and basic human rights.