한국 가족주의의 변화과정과 미래방향 ; 한국 가족주의의 역사적 배경 - 부계중심적 성과 그 개성의 문제를 중심으로 - = The Historical Background of Korean Family Centralism

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Recently, there has been a lot of controversial debates in Korea over whether the government should change the family law to protect women`s rights. It would allow a woman to be the head of the household and to change her last name to new family name after remarried. The advocates of women`s rights group argues that the current law was made based upon the tradition that neglects women`s rights and equality. The reason for the recent debate is that the new legislation would amend the preposterous current system and encourage for the women`s rights to grow in the society. It would also prevent the unnecessary exposure of the woman`s marital history to neighbours due to the child with a different last name from his/her new family. On the other hand, this argument also suggests a couple of contradictory and inconsistent ideas. First, it implies the common acceptance of divorced and/or remarried woman in a society while asserting it is unreasonable to have a family with different last names. Second, a child is not given a chance to choose his/her own last name between the formal, and the current family names when he/she becomes a legally independent age, 20, which may result in neglecting the child`s civil rights. Of course, a careful consideration must be given when looking at these controversial debates since both arguments and problems have their own reasons. Therefore, this paper carefully attempts to examine whether such problems existed in the past, but are rather new ideas. Historically, in the Eastern culture, the last name has been what defined, and represented a family. In the early days, families with a last name played pivotal roles in a society. Therefore, the increasing number of people with a last name also meant the growth and development of society. Also in Eastern society, unlike in Western, all members of the family are each responsible for their role in the happiness of the entire family because the minimum unit of society is the family. As a result, one family member`s fortune or misfortune is intimately related to the whole family. So it was generally understood that the last name could not be changed. Regardless, there were a few cases where the last name could be changed when the king awarded a new family name. This meant a great honor to the whole family which would pass on for generations. Otherwise, the last name might be changed to mother`s maiden name for political reasons. Although the child was called by the mother`s last name, it would only lasted for one generation. In the next generation, the family name should be inherited from one`s father. The book of family tree, which contains the family`s glorious history, has been developed and passed on through generations under the paternal family system. The family members are united as one to help the one encountering the obstacles to protect the family member and their last name. Although there were cases where not following the fathers last name, it is only temporary. The Family law hasn`t been revised, not because that system works perfectly, but because the other options could create bigger problems than before. In Taiwan, the children use the combined last name of both parents. In extreme cases, this could result in a child who has two last names in the first generation but the last name of subsequent generations could increase exponentially. Thus, the problem of the closure of the household system and the changing of children`s last names are not essential issue to solve the women`s rights issue. Revising family law is not the fundamental solution for the advent of woman`s right. It is rather a formality thus women`s rights movement should focus on real social issues. If it is really the advent of womens rights is the issue, then the methods of enhancing women`s rights must be proposed. The matters which are less related with the enhancement of women`s rights, such as the problems associated with the household system or the opinions concer