Tradition as Strategy: An Analytic Narrative of Hahoe Villages Transition to Modernity

Abstract

© 2022 Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies.In this study, we examine how tradition and sustainability were preserved in Hahoe Village over the course of modernization, using the analytic narrative method. Combining historical and ethnographic narratives with game theoretic analysis, we try to understand the distinctive character of Hahoe Village, resulting from systems of norms, beliefs, and checks and balances between traditional, semi-traditional, and modern institutions for managing its tangible and intangible cultural and natural resources. In the game theory analysis, we assume that Hahoe Villages current condition resulted from repeated interactions between two groups of individuals: tradition-oriented agents and market-oriented agents. We formulate the payoff structure underlying responses to the social dilemma of managing Hahoe Villages common resources based on the affordability hypothesis and shared mental model hypothesis. We find that the preservation of Hahoe Villages traditions was closely connected to the successful institutionalization of tradition and sustainability through what can be termed the tradition game. We specify the characteristics of Hahoe Villages sustainable institutions and argue that their sustainability gradually shifted from embedded sustainability to institutional sustainability.