Ideology, Religion, and the Roots of Nationalism: Two Case Studies of Revitalization in Late Koryǒ and Late Chosǒn Times

Abstract

The Theory of Revitalization has been used to describe the emergence and development of religious movements which have as their raison d'être the revival and restoration of their cultures or societies. Generally, this theory has been applied to the analysis of small-scale societies, but not to complex, state-level societies. In this paper, the author takes two case examples from critical periods of Korean history to demonstrate in what ways the historical processes of those periods diverged from the stages of the theory. The author then concludes with a proposal to refine the fourth stage of the model, the key stage of revitalization, to fit the facts of the process of revitalization which occurs in state-level societies.