@article{ART003378969},
author={이승민},
title={A Critical Reflection on Korean Familism and Christian Ethical Tasks: Focusing on Reinhold Niebuhr},
journal={The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics},
issn={1229-8387},
year={2026},
number={65},
pages={471-510}
TY - JOUR
AU - 이승민
TI - A Critical Reflection on Korean Familism and Christian Ethical Tasks: Focusing on Reinhold Niebuhr
JO - The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics
PY - 2026
VL - null
IS - 65
PB - The Society Of Korean Christian Social Ethics
SP - 471
EP - 510
SN - 1229-8387
AB - Contemporary Korea faces multiple, interlocking crises threatening the survival of its communities, including ultra-low fertility, an aging population, and the rise of single-person households. Korean familism — which evolved as a survival strategy in the absence of a public safety net from the Joseon dynasty through the Japanese colonial period and into the era of modernization — is widely regarded as one of the root causes of these social problems. By privileging the family over the individual and over other groups, Korean familism functions as a powerful ideological mechanism that disguises individual and collective self-interest under the moral pretext of family, ultimately undermining the public good.
To analyze this mechanism by which self-interest is concealed, this study draws on Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism to critically examine the phenomenon of familism in Korean society and to seek ethical alternatives. Attending to and critically reflecting on the paradoxical mechanism by which an individual’s self-sacrificing altruism within the family conceals self-interest and expands into a collective egoism that damages the public good offers the imagination needed to discover a healthy image of the family between the two extremes of absolutizing the family and dissolving it altogether. The dialectical tensions of “mutual love drawn forth by sacrificial love,” “change within history driven by a moral ideal beyond history,” and “the transformation of nature by grace” provide crucial insight for guiding the family toward its true form within history, without absolutizing it.
KW - Korean Familism;Reinhold Niebuhr;Christian Realism;Collective Egoism;approximate justice
DO -
UR -
ER -
이승민. (2026). A Critical Reflection on Korean Familism and Christian Ethical Tasks: Focusing on Reinhold Niebuhr. The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics, 65, 471-510.
이승민. 2026, "A Critical Reflection on Korean Familism and Christian Ethical Tasks: Focusing on Reinhold Niebuhr", The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics, no.65, pp.471-510.
이승민 "A Critical Reflection on Korean Familism and Christian Ethical Tasks: Focusing on Reinhold Niebuhr" The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics 65 pp.471-510 (2026) : 471.
이승민. A Critical Reflection on Korean Familism and Christian Ethical Tasks: Focusing on Reinhold Niebuhr. 2026; 65 : 471-510.
이승민. "A Critical Reflection on Korean Familism and Christian Ethical Tasks: Focusing on Reinhold Niebuhr" The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics no.65(2026) : 471-510.
이승민. A Critical Reflection on Korean Familism and Christian Ethical Tasks: Focusing on Reinhold Niebuhr. The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics, 65, 471-510.
이승민. A Critical Reflection on Korean Familism and Christian Ethical Tasks: Focusing on Reinhold Niebuhr. The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics. 2026; 65 471-510.
이승민. A Critical Reflection on Korean Familism and Christian Ethical Tasks: Focusing on Reinhold Niebuhr. 2026; 65 : 471-510.
이승민. "A Critical Reflection on Korean Familism and Christian Ethical Tasks: Focusing on Reinhold Niebuhr" The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics no.65(2026) : 471-510.
