Required Readings

I. INTRODUCTION: BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE:
(Family system and its variants, vertical group structure)

READINGS: Befu, An Ethnography of a Dinner Entertainment in Japan"

Texts: White: Part One, Kingston Ch. 1

II. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL INTERACTION
(Amae relationships, in-group/out-group and public/private orientations, consensus decision-making, language usage)

READINGS: Bestor "Conflict, Legitimacy and Tradition in a Tokyo Neighborhood" and Ishida, "Conflict and Its Accommodations: Omote-Ura and Uchi-Soto Relations"

Texts: White: Part Two

III SOCIALIZATION AND THE FAMILY
(Early childhood socialization, pattern and role learning, small group dynamics in the family, at work and at play)

READINGS: Allison, "Producing Mothers, “ Ochiai "The Truth about the Nuclearization of the Family"

Texts: White: Part Three, Kingston Ch. 2, 3

IV. RELIGION, VALUES AND IDEOLOGY
(Three religious and ethical traditions: Shinto, Buddhism, Confucianism , Emperor system and ideology, on-giri ethics)

READINGS: Pelzel "Human Nature in Japanese Myths," Ames, “Bushido: Mode or Ethic?” Lamont—Brown “Japan’s Imperial Family: Its role and Meaning in Modern Japan.”

Texts: Nelson, John, all,

V. EDUCATION
(education system, exam system)

READINGS: Shiizu: Japanese Entrance Exams, Kerr "Education."

Texts: Lie: Ch. 1, 2, 3, 4, Kingston 4, 5, 6

VII. WOMEN
(changing role of women in society, abortion, abuse)

READINGS: Chung "The Origin and Development of the Military Sexual Slavery Problem in Imperial Japan" Yoshihama, “Breaking the web of abuse and silence: voices of battered women in Japan,”Goro, Fujiyama-Koriyama, Fukao Reich, “Abortion trends in Japan 1975-95” Sugimoto "Gender Stratification"

VIII GROUPS AND POINTS OF CONFLICT
(Korean and Burakumin minorities, immigrants)

READINGS: Texts: Lie: Ch. 5, 6, Kingston ch. 7, 8, 9, 10