ANTHROPOLOGICAL |

EXAMINING IDEOLOGICAL

BASES OF CULTURE

AND SOCIETY

VIEWS OF JAPAN |

OCTOBER 2014 – MAX DARLINGTON

PRECAUTIONS

• Attitude makes the difference

• Always Be Critical

• Maintain perspective

ANTHROPOLOGY• “The study of human races, origins, societies, and cultures”

• “A central concern…[of anthropology] is the application of knowledge to the solution of human problems”

–Merriam-Webster online

–American Anthropological Assoc.

SUBDIVISIONS• Cultural

• Comparative study of the manifold ways people understand their world

• Lived Ethnography

• Physical

• Study non-cultural aspects of humans

• Archaeology

• Recovering pre-history of societies

• Linguistic

• Comparative study of ways

language influences social life

SOCIOCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

• Social Aspect

• “Attempt to isolate a particular system of social relations”

• Cultural Aspect

• “Aim to provide a rounded view of the knowledge, customs, and institutions of a people”

CULTURE

CULTURAL CYCLE

• Individuals

• Interactions

• Institutions

• Ideas• Individuals are actors of

cultural ideas, but can only affect them through institutions

BENNETT SCALE

MINIMIZATION

• Essentialism

• Reducing a foreign culture to symbolsto fulfill an image or agenda

• “Paris Syndrome”

CULTURE SHOCK• Coincides with the ‘Acceptance’ stage

• Adaptation expressed as rejection, assimilation, or cosmopolitanism

MIDDLE OF THE PRESENTATION

CONTEXT

• Low-context cultures

• Linear, individualistic, logical

• Over-familiar, impudent

• High-context cultures

• Relational, collectivist, intuitive

• Reserved, roundabout

• Cues

• The “hidden cultural grammar” or “code” that cultural members rely on

SOCIETAL STRUCTURE

• Collectivist

• Emphasizes cooperation and context

• Ontological security dependent upon group identity

• Individualist

• Emphasizes independence and clarity

• Inclined towards personal, narrow interpretations

SOCIETY

SHAME & GUILT

NIHONJINRON {日本人論}

• Theories on Japanese identity

• Race, Geography, Language, Psychology, and Society

• National identity construction (often in contrast to external identities)

• Intellectual Hegemony

• Concept of hierarchy underlying cultural practices

AMAE {甘え}• Interdependent indulgence system

• Intimate social relations function as amaekasu

• Provide outlet for stress from ganbaru {頑張る}

PUBLIC & PRIVATE SELF

• Public

• Identity which can be comfortably displayed for public interpretation

• Private

• Identity which can not be shared with unfamiliar people

SOCIAL SPACE

• Uchi {内} – ‘in-group’

• Most intimate group of relationships

• Safe space for private self

• Soto {外} / Seken {世間}

• Acquaintances most sensitive to public appearances and behavior

• Origin of shame from society

• Yoso {ヨソ} – ‘out-group’

• Strangers with no prior connection

GAIJIN COMPLEX• Anxiety from encountering someone both unaware of the

sociocultural system and seen as beyond the out-group

KEJIME {けじめ}

• Index

• Behavioral Relativism –Delineates how much amae, as opposed to what specific behavior, is appropriate

• Situationalism

• Meta-knowledge of the shifting nature of in-group and out-group distinctions within interactions

FORM & CONTENT• Omote {表}

• Public appearance that is presented

• Ura {裏}

• Private content that underlies the situation

• Inversely related

PUBLIC BEHAVIOR• Honne {本音}

• Sincere, private feelings present in uraand only expressed to in-groups

• Tatemae {建前}

• Politeness which is maintained as public, omote behavior

CIVIL ACTIONS• Giri {義理}

• Public actions for both in-group or out-group benefit originating from amaekasu and tatemae

• Ninjo {人情}

• Private interests similar to honne expressible to in-group

IN CONCLUSION• “[Humans] really are amazing creatures.

You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month and yet,

after a hundred years, they can still surprise you.”

Dr. Gandalf the Grey

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• Unknown. “Amae.” Image. Web. Tofugu.

• Yoko. “率直に言うと.” Image. Web. Ilbono.com. 東京外国語大学校.

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