Culture and Traditions: Religion & Beliefs

According to Kwintessential along with references to Wikipedia , approximately 46% are free-thinkers, and out of those with religious preferences, 2 major religions dominate others which are Buddhism and Christianity, with Buddhism having a greater fellowship by a slight margin. The minority religions comprises of Confucianism, Shamanism and others.

Although Confucianism does not really seem to affect the Koreans in terms of religion, it still does affect them in terms of philosophy and way of life. In fact it can be regarded more to a set of ethics. It can be said that Koreans have the confucius midset. Confucianism basically emphasizes on loyalty, honour and duty, amongst other attributes in the society and sets up a kind of hierarchy in their social system.

In this sort of hierarchy, it suggests the place of an individual in the society. This can be observed through their relationships and different obligations to different set of people in their lives for example between the individual with the parents and between the partner.

In the way of Confucius, the family is regarded highly in their lives. They take into account their actions as it reflects the overall image of the family; the individual need is put to second. The father is the head of the family and carries the responsibilty from providing food to approving marriages of his sons and daughters. Having said that, the eldest son holds special obligations in the order of towards his parents, then to his brothers according to age, then to his own family with his sons coming first before his wife and finally to his daughter.

The Social Philosophy; Confucius : General Trivia

• Obedience to seniors is crucial. Never get in arguements with your seniors,not just parents and elder siblings in family but also with teachers at school and bosses at work. Although seniors get to enjoy such respect, they'd still help out with the younger ones.
• Being successful is not enough. One needs to be highly educated as well to be highly regarded.
• Men and women have separate and distinct roles which do not intertwine. Men do not do household duties.
• Be modest and avoid being extravagant.

Reference: Robinson,M.,Bartlett, R., & Whyte, R. (2007). Korea (7th ed.). Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd

I feel that although the moden contemporary Koreans tend to not show the Confucius way in the fast pace way of life nowadays, the confucius mindset will stay strong and deter,if not control new upcoming mindset brought about with new age thinking due to the global culture brought about through gloablisation. I feel that the elders in the society plays an utmost important role in ensuring such mindset and way of life is passed down to the next generation as to me it is the unique social system that represent them. Having said that, such mindset may be allowed to evolve to suit the times but I belive the principles will stay strong.