오래된 미래: 조선 삼사 (三司)의 하향적 동료성(top-down Collegiality)에 기반한 재해석 = An Old Future: Reinterpreting Joseon Samsa Institutions through Max Weber’s Concept of Collegiality

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study takes Max Weber’s concept of collegiality as a theoretical point of departure and reinterprets the Samsa—the Joseon dynasty’s key institutions of political oversight composed of the Office of the Inspector General (Saheonbu), the Office of the Censor-General (Saganwon), and the Office of Special Counsel (Hongmungwan)—as collegial organizations designed to mitigate the risks inherent in modern bureaucracy. While modern bureaucracy has enhanced administrative efficiency and predictability, it also entails structural pathologies whereby instrumental rationality increasingly dominates, systematically eroding individual judgment and responsibility. Weber proposed collegiality as an organizational principle capable of counterbalancing these dangers of bureaucratic domination.
This study argues that the Joseon Samsa functioned as more than mere institutions of surveillance and remonstrance. Rather, they institutionally embodied a collegial organizational logic that constrained the unilateral dominance of both the supreme decision-maker and the centralized bureaucratic apparatus, thereby enhancing the legitimacy of policy judgment. The analysis demonstrates that the Samsa satisfied the core criteria of collegial organizations, including judgment grounded in theoretical knowledge, the institutionalization of professional career trajectories, relative internal equality and autonomy, mutual monitoring and self-discipline, and collective decision-making. These findings indicate that the institutional status and symbolic as well as career-related privileges granted to Samsa officials were not incidental but constituted core governing functions explicitly recognized and promoted by the state. Accordingly, the Joseon Samsa can be reinterpreted not merely as a historical relic, but as an “old future” that offers meaningful insights for addressing the pathologies of contemporary bureaucracy.