• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.27-56
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to analyze on the main classes of DDC. The DDC is a general classification system which aims to classify documents of all kinds falling in any knowledge domain. At best, the order of the main classes represents a mix of Baconian and Hegelian philosophy adulterated by the practical exigencies of organization a collection of books. Each of the main classes have been subdivided further into what are technically known as divisions. This division of knowledge into the nine main classes mirrors the educational consensus of the late nineteen-century Western academic world. The DDC thus scatters subjects by discipline, and the subjects are subordinated to discipline. The DDC has been criticised for its rigidity of division by ten at every step of its division. Division by the decimal classification has been likened to the Procrustean bed.