초록 열기/닫기 버튼
民과 人의 합성어로서 백성을 지칭하는‘민인’이라는 개념은 정치사회의 변화와 함께 조선 전기와 후기에 그 의미에 큰 차이가 있었다. 조선 전기‘민인’은 전체 백성을 지칭함과 동시에 관인이아닌 농공상에 종사하는 양민을 지칭하는 말로 사용됨에 따라 상하의 계층성이 내포되어 있었다. 그러나 양란 이후 국가재조 과정에서 君民一體를지향하는 민국사상이 대두한다. 이에 영조는 민국이 백성의 고충을 덜어주는 것이 시급하다고 보고, 백성의 부담을 고르게 하는 과정에서 양반과양민, 천민을 모두 자신의 동포로 끌어안음으로써‘민인’의 외연이 크게 확장된다. 나아가 구한말서구 각국과 체결한 근대적인 조약문에서 국민의대표어로‘민인’을 사용함으로써‘민인’은 모든국민을 포괄하게 된다. 조선시대를 통해 자체적으로 성장하던‘민인’개념은 서구의 근대 국민 개념이 도입되면서‘인민’또는‘국민’으로 대체되고 만다.
The concept “Minin”is a compound word of “Min”(民, a ruled) and “In”(人, a ruler), which means people. The meaning of this concept has been evolved by several political and social changes during the whole Choson Dynasty. In the early Choson Dynasty “Minin”represents in general people such as farmers, manufacturers and merchants except for officials as well as all the subjects. It has some sort of hierarchical implication. However, in the later Choson Dynasty, its meaning had been modified. Especially after the Japanese Invasion of 1592-1598 and the Manchu war of 1636, a political thought “Minguk”(literally meaning people’s state) became dominant in emphasizing the unity of the ruler and people, so-called “Kynminilch”(君民一體) in the course of the state-rebuilding. At this point the denotation of “Minin”was drastically extended to all the people including the gentry class, civilians, and slaves. Urgently King Yeungjo attempted to embrace them all as his compatriots for the purpose of lessening the burden and pain of his subjects. Furthermore, “Minin”meant representing all people or nation in regard to the modern treaties between Korea and the western countries during the last phase of the Choson Dynasty. Eventually the concept of “Minin”that grew for itself throughout the Choson Dynasty was replaced by the Western sense of “the people”or “nation”by importing the Western concept of “nation.”
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
Minguk, Minin, The State Rebuilding, Nation, People
