Tussen Yangban en het Gewone Volk: de Status en Mobiliteit van Tolken in Chosŏn Korea (1392–1910)

This dissertation investigates the social status and mobility of the chungin 中人 ("middle people") in the Chosŏn dynasty (1392-1910), with a particular focus on official interpreters (yŏkkwan 譯官). The Chosŏn dynasty was a highly stratified society. Based on scholars' perspectives, various models have been proposed for interpreting the social structure of the Chosŏn dynasty. Debates continue regarding the existence of fixed stratification in early Chosŏn and the progressive loosening of the hierarchy from the seventeenth century onward. However, the development and significance of the chungin as a distinct social group have remained marginal in scholarly discourse. In particular, how did the chungin originate, evolve, and navigate the dynamics of social stratification over the course of the Chosŏn dynasty? To fully understand these significant social transformations, it is necessary to consider the chungin's perspective by addressing key questions such as: When did the chungin emerge as a distinct social group? What historical conditions led to their intermediary positioning between the yangban and commoners? To what extent did different occupational subgroups within the chungin share common patterns of mobility? And what kinds of resources—such as social reputation, bureaucratic rank, financial means, and social networks—did technical specialists draw upon to navigate their social position? In this dissertation, I focus on the chungin in its narrow sense, referring to the technical specialists who resided in the capital, Hanyang (present-day Seoul), including interpreters, medical doctors, lawyers, astrologers, and accountants. While previous studies have largely treated the chungin as a homogeneous group, I challenge this perspective by highlighting their internal diversity and examining the varying patterns of mobility among different technical occupations. I use official interpreters as a lens for analysis. By examining institutional frameworks, lineage and marriage networks, and different forms of capital—such as economic, cultural, and social capital—I provide a more nuanced understanding of how the chungin emerged, adapted, and positioned themselves within the evolving social structure of the Chosŏn dynasty. Methodologically, this dissertation employs various digital methods, including programming, generating data on digital platforms, visualizing and analyzing social networks, and constructing and managing graph databases. Among these digital methods, I specifically apply social network analysis to explore the chungin's status in different realms. I conceive of the solidification of the chungin's social status as a dynamic process in which they navigated their social lives through multilayered networks woven from kinship, economic, political, cultural, and social relationships. The dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first two offer a general discussion of the chungin. Chapter 1 introduces the concept of the chungin by examining its usage in various Chosŏn dynasty texts, tracing how references to the term evolved in both its broad and narrow meanings. Addressing the question of why technical specialists began to be recognized as a separate social group after the eighteenth century, Chapter 2 outlines chungin social mobility by measuring intergenerational correlations in examination degrees. Chapters 3-5 use interpreters' accounts as a lens through which to examine specific mechanisms and historical contexts that facilitated chungin social mobility. Chapter 3 adopts a diachronic approach to examine shifts in the social status of interpreters from the Three Kingdoms period to the Chosŏn dynasty, emphasizing institutional influences on their social standing. Chapter 4 investigates interpreters' economic status, focusing on the capital they accumulated through cross-border trade. Chapter 5 centers on the nineteenth century, analyzing interpreters' social status through their cultural networks, particularly their participation in poetry societies. In conclusion, I argue that in a highly stratified society like Chosŏn, the accumulation of economic, cultural, or social capital could function effectively within certain social layers but had limited power to propel individuals across institutional boundaries.