Meritocracy with Multiple Rules: How Special Civil Service Examinations Reproduced Privilege in Joseon Korea

Abstract Gwageo in Joseon Korea (1392–1897) was a civil service examination system rooted in meritocratic principles, selecting government officials based on Confucian scholarship. From its inception in 1393 to its abolition in 1894, a regular gwageo examination was mostly held every three years, while special examinations were held irregularly. The frequency of special examinations increased over time, and their total number eventually reached nearly three times that of the regular examinations. The sociology of education proposes that educational expansion and changes in selection rules tend to benefit the privileged more before benefiting the less privileged. Using historical records of successful civil service examination passers that are linked to information on family backgrounds, this study examines the differences in the family backgrounds of passers between regular and special examinations. The results show that the privileged, such as those with more ancestors who passed previous examinations and those who came from powerful family clans, accounted for a higher proportion in special examinations than in regular examinations. This tendency was more pronounced during periods of the Joseon Dynasty when the power of the privileged was particularly strong. These findings suggest that the privileged groups’ adaptation strategies to new and varying rules are applicable even in premodern examination systems, such as the gwageo in Joseon Korea.