Civil Service Examination in Joseon Dynasty and Career Mobility

Gwageo, the national civil service examination system used during the Joseon Dynasty in Korea (1392-1910), was the primary route for scholars to enter government service and achieve social advancement. Along with Keju in China, Gwageo was a meritocratic system of social mobility. At the same time, those who passed Gwageo and their families formed the literati, who were privileged, even those who had only been examined but not employed (Weber 1958). The literati families, called Sedoga, could influence how high and how fast those who passed the exam could be promoted to higher positions. In this paper, we use the Gawgeo examination and personal information recorded in the Mungwa Bangmok, the list of successful civil service examination candidates, to examine the influence of family lineage on the likelihood of career mobility. The results show that not only were those from traditional literati families more likely to be promoted to senior positions than others, but also their promotion periods were shorter, and, once promoted, they tended to stay in senior positions for a longer period. Sedoga's influence was relatively weak in the early period of the Joseon Dynasty, but its influence had increased significantly during the later period of the Joseon Dynasty. The implications of these findings will be discussed.

ChangHwan Kim is Professor of Sociology at the University of Kansas. His research focuses on labour market inequality, social stratification, Korean studies, Asian American studies, and quantitative methodology. His work has appeared in a variety of journals, including American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Sociological Methods & Research, and Korean Journal of Sociology. Kim's recent research has focused on the intergenerational and intragenerational mobility of Asian Americans and Koreans using historical data.