It has been handed down through generations since the fourteenth century and this just shows its importance in the Korean culture (Sorensen, N.D.). It is a concept that helps form ethical behavior (Sorensen, N.D.). There are many different aspects of showing filial piety in Korea. Some of the ways are serving parents, respecting parents, obediently listening to parents, supporting parents, being successful, remembering virtue of parents and offering sacrifice to parents. In traditional Korean culture, filial piety insinuated to the idea of serving the king and respecting and supporting parents. It was also more of a one-way relationship that was only beneficial for the parents. In the past, family values ruled over individual value (Tparents, 1999). A Korean family is interdependent and each family member relies on one another and each play a role in the family. In traditional Korean societies, the idea of a good life for the elder generation was shown or measured by how many filial children or grandchildren they were surrounded by. The older generation were revered and taken care of and this made them feel secure (Han, 1996). In the past, the men of the family were expected to be dutiful to their parents. They also ruled over the females and also ruled over their younger siblings. The women of the family were not allowed to go out and they were not obligated to serve their parents. The eldest son had also higher …show more content…
Sung (1995) carried out a study, which compared Korean adults reasons for taking care of their parents with American adults. Both the Korean and American adults were caring for their parents that were ill. He found out that there were a few common reasons, which were affection, responsibility and reciprocity. However, the Korean adults stated three additional reasons that the Americans did not. They were respect, family harmony and sacrifice. Now, let us look at some of the differences in both cultures. In Korea, a child is expected to stay with their parents until they get married however, in America children move out of their parents’ house when they turn eighteen. It would be weird for a child to live with their parents after they reach the legal age (Rick, 2015). In American cultures, children are not expected to take care of their parents. The parents also do not expect their children to take care of them because they are also very individualistic and they prefer their independence. When a group of elderly Americans were asked who they think should bear their financial needs, 76.7% of the women and 80.3% of the men said that the government show bear their financial needs instead of their children (Yuan, 2011). The American government started providing support for the elderly since that 13th century and this may be one of the reasons why American children do not feel like they need to take care of their parents (Yuan , 2011). Table etiquette is also