A Socio-Economic structure of Korean Rural communities based on Polanyi’s view

This study investigates the determinants of a community-based economy. Especially, it examines the nine different villages which are farming, fishing, mountainous villages at South Chungcheong Province. In this research, I used an interview with the villagers, participant observation of village-meeting and annual festival and literature survey on letters and a diary. Further I applied the approach of Karl Polanyi, who emphasized that livelihood of Man is not structuralized based on rational man and market mechanism, but on social structure that also plays a pivotal role which is known as subjectivism. The findings of this study showed that the community-based economy depends on natural resources, cultural elements as totem, religious factors, sacrificial rites, norm, and social factors like Pumasi, Dure and Goji. These elements impact broadly on livelihood of Man in a sense of household, reciprocity and redistribution. But we have to investigate village economy with the leisure of them. And I hope this article will contribute greatly to economy research on villages.