In this article, we study social mobility across multiple generations in premodern Korea. Using two extant oldest family records, jokbo, we construct a prospective genealogical microdata containing the entire records of public offices and reproduction over five generations of the two elite family lineages in premodern Korea. We argue that the confluence of an ambiguous stratification system with a limited number of high-ranking offices generated a trade-off for parents between the quantity and quality of positions attained by their offspring. The result of the trade-off was unequal distributions of mobility-related family resources to maximize the lineage's collective goal, rather than to maximize individual children's social ranks. Using a novel empirical strategy to consider the heterogeneous resource-allocation within elite families, we present empirical evidence on associations between parents' and grandparents' social ranks and quality of offices achieved by children of elite Korean families.
Sangkuk Lee was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2018S1A5B6075104) and Ajou University Research Fund. Jong Hee Park was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2013S1A3A2053683). Lee Sangkuk Sangkuk Lee is associate professor of history at Ajou University in South Korea. Lee received a PhD in history (Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea) and is specialized in the study of elite family history in premodern Korea. Lee studies socioeconomic history and historical demography of premodern Korea and has published many articles including \u201cStrategizing Marriage: A Genealogical Analysis of Korean Marriage Networks\u201d (2017), \u201cRural Migration in Korea: A Transition to the Modern Era\u201d (2013), and \u201cLong-Term Patterns of Seasonality of Mortality in Korea from Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century\u201d (2012). Park Jong Hee Jong Hee Park is associate professor of political science and international relations at Seoul National University. Park received a PhD in political science (Washington University, St. Louis) and is specialized in political economy, Bayesian statistics, and applied statistics. Park has published many articles including \u201cBayesian Approach to Multilayer Stochastic Block Model and Network Changepoint Detection\u201d (2017), \u201cA Unified Method for Dynamic and Cross-Sectional Heterogeneity: Introducing Hidden Markov Panel Models\u201d (2012), and \u201cChangepoint Models for Binary and Ordinal Probit Models: An Application to Bank Rate Policy in the Interwar Period\u201d (2011). 06 12 2018 Spring 2019 43 1 31 61 \u00a9 Social Science History Association, 2018 2018 Social Science History Association In this article, we study social mobility across multiple generations in premodern Korea. Using two extant oldest family records, jokbo, we construct a prospective genealogical microdata containing the entire records of public offices and reproduction over five generations of the two elite family lineages in premodern Korea. We argue that the confluence of an ambiguous stratification system with a limited number of high-ranking offices generated a trade-off for parents between the quantity and quality of positions attained by their offspring. The result of the trade-off was unequal distributions of mobility-related family resources to maximize the lineage\u2019s collective goal, rather than to maximize individual children\u2019s social ranks. Using a novel empirical strategy to consider the heterogeneous resource-allocation within elite families, we present empirical evidence on associations between parents\u2019 and grandparents\u2019 social ranks and quality of offices achieved by children of elite Korean families. pdf S014555321800038Xa.pdf
