Korean Self and Selfobject

In this study, I critically apply theories of Kohut’s self psychology concerning self-selfobject relationships to the Korean uri culture, and refine them by integrating Korean psychological constructs into his frameworks. Kohut claims that the psychology of the self in the broad sense can offer a fuller explanation than the psychology of the self in the narrow sense. For Kohut, the self is an independent center of initiative and an independent recipient of impression, which is subjectively experienced as being continuous in time and space, and not simply a representation. This concept of the self defined by Kohut as a supraordinate agency, i.e., an independent center of initiative, closely reflects the western concern for the autonomous, independent, and cohesive self. Korean culture can be categorized as one of the collectivistic cultures. One of the consistent themes associated with collectivism is an emphasis on the collective or group over individuals. I propose the Korean concept of uri as a more integral framework for discourse on Koran collectivism along with jeong. In the uri culture, the Korean self can be characterized by its symbiosis-reciprocity, particularly in jeong, which is the most important part of the Korean conception of self. In Korean uri relations, maeum is the most important medium of interaction, since uri members can communicate through their maeum on the basis of jeong even without verbal expression of it. In this sense, self-selfobject relationships in the Korean culture can be significantly different from the formulations in self psychology. Korean self-selfobject relationships are reciprocal, which contrasts with the formulations of self psychology. This kind of reciprocal self-selfobject relationship, i.e., reciprocal expectations of being caring and being dependent, can frequently be found within uri relations. The need for a psychology of self-selfobject relationships arises in Northern American culture, but Korean culture traditionally assumes self-selfobject relationships as the core of humanity, though this assumption is not grounded in the frameworks of self psychology. Therefore, the notion of self and selobject as formulated by self psychology needs to be expanded in line with the experience of the self and self-selfobject relationships of Korean people.