이 글은 17ㆍ8세기에 주자학적 종법 질서에 따른 부계직계 질서가 확산되는 과정을 『단성호적』의 호주 승계 관행의 변화를 통해 살펴본 것이다. 호주(남편 또는 아버지)가 죽은 뒤에 17세기에는 과부(어머니)가 다음 호주로 기재되지만, 18세기 이후에는 그 아들이 호주로 기재된다. 이는 종법 질서를 강조하는 주자학적 이념에 맞게 바뀐 국가의 행정 지침에 따라 이루어진 것이다. 호주 승계에 종법의 원리가 적용된 것은 주자학적 관념이 양인, 천인에게까지 전파ㆍ확산되는 계기가 되었다. 이러한 변화가 실현되는 데는, 여성은 호주가 되기에 적합하지 않다는 성 차별적 인식과 어머니를 모시고 보호해야 한다는 효의 명분이 함께 작용했다. 아들을 가진 과부는 스스로 호주가 되지 못하고 아들의 어머니로 기재되어야 했지만, 아들의 어머니로서 재산 관리권을 가질 수 있었다. 조선후기에 여성은 오직 아들의 어머니일 때, 가족과 사회 안에서 자신의 역할을 찾을 수 있었다. 결혼을 하지 않거나 아들을 갖지 못한 여성의 자리는 그만큼 좁아지게 된 것이다. 남성 중심의 가부장체제가 강화되면서 여성은 호주의 자리에서 배제되었고, 또 남성 중심의 호주 승계는 성 차별적 지배 원리를 사람들에게 설파하는 매개가 되었다.
This essay examines the process how the patriarchal order strengthened and expanded in the 17-8th century Chosun through tracing changes in the practice of succeeding householder. When we look at Dansung Hojuk(the household resisters of Dansung County, Kyoungsang Province from 1678 to 1789), we can find that the cases in which a woman was recorded as a householder covered 6-11 % of the whole cases. In Dansung Hojuk, a woman as well as a man was recorded as a householder, and even a woman who had a married son was also recorded as a householder. Examining the succession to the householder, we can find some distinction between the seventeenth century and the eighteenth century. It was general in Chosun society that, in a nuclear family, a father and husband was recorded as the householder of his family. When the father and husband died, leaving his wife and son, the widow was recorded as the householder in the seventeenth century. However, in the eighteenth century, the son was recorded as the householder in the same case as mentioned above. The government's guidelines to make out the household resisters (hojuk) read, "Though the widow manages the household affairs, if she has a grown-up son, he is entered as a householder." The government's policy of recording a male as a householder led to the decrease of female householders in the eighteenth-century Dansung Hojuk. The late-seventeenth-century Dansung Hojuk recorded the oldest of the family as the householder regardless of sex. However, since the early eighteenth century, the oldest 'man' was recorded as a householder. This change may have been the product of a gender-segregating policy of Neo-Confucianism. The practice, which was based on the Neo-Confucianism led by the upper class (yangban), was applied even to the executive document of hojuk in the eighteenth century. That is significant for it paved the way for the expanding Neo-Confucian order even to the lower strata of society. Even though the son, instead of his mother, represented the household in the eighteenth century, the authority of supervising the household affairs in the family was still on the mother. It seems to me that the women with sons could be still recognized of their authority such as that of supervising their sons' inheritance even though they could not be recorded as householder. This could have minimized the possible resistance of women against the change in succession of householder. With this change of the rule of succession to the householder, there followed several other changes of women's role. First of all, without the official responsibility of the family, women concentrated on the affairs in the household instead of showing themselves in the affairs outside. With the increasing pressure of the gender-segregating Neo-Confucianism, women's activity was limited to the household affairs. And secondly, female role as a mother of a son became more emphasized than as a wife of a man. Losing the right to be the householder, a woman could be recognized in the family and society only as the mother of her son. That resulted to narrow the position of women, expecially who did not marry or had no son.