Pansori, a form of folk music in Korea, is verbally-transmitted art which has been passed down by word of mouth. In order to learn pansori, you should, first, have a teacher who would be able to teach you pansori for a long period of time, and second, you will need to keep learning and practicing only constantly. A student who learns pansori is called sorikkun, and while this sorikkun learns (pan)sori for the long term, he/she acquires from the teacher not only knowledge on pansori but also other various behaviors or styles which you should be equipped with as an artist. It is reasonable enough to say that reproduction of sorikkun is basically processed in such master-pupil relation. However, not so many previous researches on pansori have dealt with this apprenticeship.
First of all, this study aimed to prove how closely either pansori singers or a group of these singers are related the sociocultural environment. To begin with, the study looked into trends of pansori within the field of culture, and focusing on those systems formed in such field and the symbolic power built upon the systems, the study also investigated features of groups forming the field of pansori. As a result, the study learned that with this intangible cultural asset or master singer system being conducted, only a few of the cultural assets, master singers and their apprentices would receive spotlight, and the field would get bigger by taking advantages of them. In addition, the study understood that while original forms, genealogy and others are received greater attention, the apprenticeship would get stiffened.
However, members in the apprenticeship, in other words, the teachers and pupils, were observed to have relationships with each other which would always feel unstable. It is because these relationships of theirs would have to deal with those personal interests of each of them. This, as far as the study believes, has made the apprenticeship, sorikkun, unite but also exclude at the same time, fighting against the symbolic power. When they feel that they need to unite, the members induce unification by taking a practical but symbolic stand. Moreover, when expectations and understanding do not agree, they would hold discourse in order to exclude some of them. Of course, the logic of unification and exclusion is even practiced when they think they need to see how their discussions would actually work in the real field.