| The typical family pattern in Korean villages has been described commonly as a patrilineally extended family, that is, the parents and the son's family (that of the eldest son in particular) living together under one roof.
The family connection is still the basic and most important unit in Korea. Of the five relationships described by Confucius - - three deal with family relationships.
¨ç Between ruler and subject there is loyalty
(ÏÖãíêóëù)
¨è Between father and son there is closeness
(Ý«íêóöÑ)
¨é Between husband and wife there is separation
(ÜýÜþêóܬ)
¨ê Between senior and junior there is order
(íþêêêóßí)
¨ë Between friend and friend there is trust
(ÝÛéÒêóãá)
- three deal with family relationships.
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In today's industrialized urban setting, the family operates as a much smaller unit, a breadwinner husband, a homemaker wife and two children, which is becoming increasingly prevalent among the Korean urban middle class.
The father is traditionally the respected and unquestioned head of the family, and he rules with almost absolute power if he so desires. He has full responsibility for all family affairs. Even nowadays people say that the father's authority is getting smaller but that he still bears the responsibility for the family's livelihood. And he has the right of decision for all family's affairs.
The mother is often said that, according to the Confucian norm known as "the way of three followings' (samjongido), a woman has to obey and follow three males in her life, her father in childhood, her husband when married and her son when widowed.
But modern Korean women are endowed with substantial control of their husband's income and are expected to perform a more extensive role in the management of household income and property. It's told ¡°a family has no future once the wrong woman steps in."
Women also take almost exclusive charge of their children's education. Family succession is through the male line, according to primogeniture. It is the first son who is expected to remain with the family to care of the parents in their old age and to inherit the ancestral ceremonies. Therefore, the first son enjoys special treatment as the successor while the other sons married and established separate households of their own.
Once established, the families of the younger brothers, which are referred to as 'small house' (chageun jip), maintain special relationships with the eldest brother's family, referred to as the 'big house' (keun jip), where brothers and their family members regularly meet to perform rituals and ceremonies. The daughters on the other hand marry into their husbands' families and thus do not form part of the patrilineal group of their brothers after marriage. In their natal family, the married daughters are considered 'outsiders' (chulgaoein) who belong to other lineages and hence have no right in the matters of their natal family.
Although an equal inheritance law has been in force since 1991, if the property is divided during the parents' lifetime, the first son is usually given a larger share than the other sons and sons in general are given more than daughters. Also many people still believe that the status of a family depends upon the first son. No matter how successful the younger sons are, if the first son who is in the main line of succession does not do well, the family is considered to be in decline.
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