| Modern Korean culture represents the intermingling of Korean and Western cultures. Because of the inertia of cultural change I assume that the Korean culture of today has retained much more of its old Confucian roots than people realize. This assumption will be tested by interviewing immigrant Korean women in the United States, using the method of naturalistic inquiry. The purpose of this study is to articulate Korean women's reality, particularly that of Korean immigrant women, and to illustrate that changes in culture take place very slowly, seemingly imperceptibly, over several generations. Much of a culture is formed unconsciously and therefore beyond conscious and intentional control. The first step is to become aware of and understand the culture which gives birth to individual personality as well as society. Every culture has a certain view of the world, and this view shapes people's ways of structuring their lives.;Since the development of psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud, many new models of the mind have been developed. However, because all these theories and practices have been developed within the context of Western culture, it is doubtful whether they apply to the mind and its development in other cultures. Therefore, the second step is to elaborate the fact that people of other cultures may perceive everyday experiences very differently, thereby shaping their sense of self, their relationships, and their internal world. Cross-cultural psychology and psychoanalysis are rapidly growing fields. The third step is to hear the stories of women as told in their own words, and find the common themes and categories to analyze psychologically.;Participants had a strong desire to find their self and identity as human beings, within the context of their family. Changing the family structure does not solve these issues without a change in the culture, and this can not be done by conscious intervention. There is a need to provide a new cultural understanding so that Korean women and men can emerge into wholeness. This study suggests that one new way of understanding the relationship between men and women can be found by viewing it through the eyes of I Ching. |
