Are a shifting balance between group orientation, universal principles, and individual expression
Group Orientation
Group orientation is the tendency of people in a society to see themselves primarily as members of a group and to behave according to the values and rules of the group.
Japanese Groups
the family (kinship patterns);
neighborhoods and villages;
classrooms and schools;
sport clubs and art schools;
companies and inter-firm groups (keiretsus);
Political parties and government departments;
Alternative groups (e.g. Yakuza, motorcycle gangs, cosplay, hip-hop, lolitas, etc.).
Universal Principals
Universal principles are the common values and rules that bind together the people of a society or a nation.
Japanese Universal Principals
Based on:
Confucianism;
Religion (Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity);
Scientific rationality;
Socialism and Capitalism;
Authoritarianism and Democracy.
Individual Expression
Individual expression is the common need of all persons to establish self-identity and pursue their own interests.
Is individual expression achieved alone or with others?
Is individual expression achieved alone or with others? The most important feature of individual expression in Japan is that strength of character is not judged by how independent a person can be, but by how they can work with people.
What balance between the group, the individual, and universal principles?
In Hong Kong?
In Japan?
The Japanese Balance
“Universalistic principles, group orientation, and individual self-expression are all three present to some degree in all societies, but the Japanese may differ from other modernized peoples in recognizing more openly their conflicting pulls and bending more clearly than in most in the direction of group solidarity” (Reischauer 1995:140).
Relation to the rest of the course
The Setting
History
Society
Economics
Politics
Culture Review
Japan is Different: why?
Culture: way of transmitting that difference over time
Patterns of behaviour: most important difference because they shape human welfare
They have value and structure
Patterns persist over time, but evolve
Three main influences: group orientation, universal principals, and individual expression
Human behavior is a balance of these three needs
Next Section
The Setting
The Natural Environment
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Isolation and Impacts
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