University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan on the CONCEPT of NATIONAL CHARACTER with REFERENCE to JAPAN
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MASTER'S THESIS M-1493 BLUMFIELD, Hanita F. ON THE CONCEPT OF NATIONAL CHARACTER WITH REFERENCE TO JAPAN. The American University, M.A., 1968 Anthropology University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan ON THE CONCEPT OF NATIONAL CHARACTER WITH REFERENCE TO JAPAN by Hanita F. Bltimfield Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of The American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Anthropology Signatures of Committeei Chairman t Dean of the College Date: 1968 The American University Washington, D. C, PREFACE A yellow skinned "inscrutable" face appears on the movie screen; suddenly an arm is lifted and jerked forward to the accompaniment of a hysterical sounding "Banzai." Several more "masklike" oriental faces appear on the screen, each incongruous seeming, for murderously uncontrollable "Banzais" emanate from impassive mouths. (Movie: The Purple Heart) The mask of Japan. The mask behind which treachery, hate and racist dogma lurk, implies this World War II film. War-time propaganda? Stereotyping? Yes— but does some truth accompany the exaggeration and caricature? Are there specific cultural features shared, by members of a group which constitute recognizable and. differentiable "character structures" so that one may point out the significant features which form the core of traits predisposing the individual to respond in culturally patterned ways? As early as the fourth century B.C. Heroditus pondered the differences between Egyptian and Greek customs. Tacitus, first century A.D., to name another scholar, contrasted the behavior of the northern Germanic tribes with that of urban Rome.^ The question of "national character," Ijictor Barnouw, Culture and Personality (New York; Dorsey Press, 1963)1 P« 28. Ill of the existence of shared values, themes and patterned behavior manifested by the participants of the culture, of shared group differences, has bothered investigators throughout history. Simplistic explanations of "national character" in terms of racial heredity, evolutionary stage, geographical influences, or other single-factor mysticism have lost their currency, particularly through the work of 2 Boas and his generation of anthropologists. The complexity of "national character" has been recognized along with the concern for utilizing qualitative as well as quantitative data in the attempt to discover the shared nucleus of core values and attitudes which characterize the group. The aim of this thesis is to show that "national character," formed by underlying modal themes and values and manifested in the behavior patterns of members of a group, can be found to be operative in Japan and to have maintained its importance in the face of cultural change. The first chapter will review the concept of "national character" paying particular attention to definitions in current use. In the second chapter the objections and modifications to the concept will be discussed. The complexity of the ^Douglas G. Haring, "Anthropology: One Point of View," in Douglas G. Haring (ed.). Personal Character and Cultural Milieu (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1956), p.I d, iv organism’s interrelationship with its environment and the difficulty of applying psychoanalytic principles to anthro pological research will be stressed. In the third chapter three main themes which underlie the national character of Japan will be discussed. I have utilized sources from both pre-war and post-war Japan and have attempted to abstract these themes from the data. I have elected to Include both normative and real character traits in as much as the real has as its guideline the ideal, or to use John Bennett, Herbert Passim, and Robert McKnight's terminology the ideal is always a "generalized protocol" for use by the individual in learning how to respond to social situations.^ I have also given a brief discussion of themes hitherto identified or discussed concerning Japan. The fourth chapter will attempt to analyze the ways in which these themes have formed the axis around which social change has revolved. The receptivity and the response of the group to the processes of culture change depend, heavily on the "character structure" shared by the group which predisposes it to act in culturally regularized ways. 3John W. Bennett, Herbert Passim and Robert K. McKnight, In Search of Identity; The Japanese Overseas Scholar in America and Japan (Minneapolis; University of Minnesota Press, 1958T , p. 227. V I will take the three themes identified in Chapter Three and attempt to see whether they are operative in post-war Japan. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE PAGE Statement of the P r o b l e m ..................... ill CHAPTER I. ON THE CONCEPT OF NATIONAL CHARACTER .......... 1 II. OBJECTIONS TO AND MODIFICATIONS OF NATIONAL CHARACTER ANALYSIS .......................... 11 III. THREE THEMES WHICH UNDERLIE THE NATIONAL CHARACTER OF JAPAN ............................ 25 O n .............. 25 H i e r a r c h y ....................................... 31 Aliocentric Morality ........................ 3^ Thematic Development ........................ 40 Interpretation of Modal Themes .............. 46 IV, FACTORS OF RETENTION AND CHANGE IN POST WAR J A P A N ....................................... 50 Retention and Change in the Family in Post-War Japan ............................ 51 National Character Motifs in Post-War Japan . 60 Persistence of National Character Themes In J a p a n ......................................... 66 V. CONCLUSION ................................ 73 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................... 79 CHAPTER I ON THE CONCEPT OF NATIONAL CHARACTER Certain cultural features have long been identified with certain nations or cultural groups. Efficiency has long been deemed a German characteristic, volubility an Italian, stoicism a British trait, and passion a French. We all have made an image of the dark, brooding, sensitive Russian, prone to drink and to violence, and obsessed with love of Country and of Land. Such characterizations are without question clichés and cannot be utilized to determine the character of the individuals of the society. The question remains, however, whether there are identifiable characteristics, other than racial, by which one can differentiate the German from the Frenchman, the American from the Japanese, If we are able to abstract these differentiating factors, we are left with the question whether these factors comprise a core of personality traits commonly found through out the culture ; a nucleus of behavioral traits predisposing the Individual to act and react in culturally patterned ways. For example, if we can distinguish in Japan a distinctly patterned hierarchical structure which permeates all aspects of the society, can we then further find that each member of that society has as part of his gestalt a hierarchical orientation to life? In other words, is personality Influenced and determined by the culture In which It develops— does the Individual personality reflect the nuclear values of the society? The interrelation between Culture and Personality is a complex problem which has received a great deal of attention. Culture consists of those beliefs, actions and material devices that are characteristic of an ongoing society. Personality Is the "organization of forces within a complex of fairly consistent attitudes, values and modes of perception which account. In part, for the Individual's consistency of behavior."^ This personality system Is consistent with and responsive to cultural forces, otherwise personality disorder becomes manifest. A human being, in order to develop his humanity, must be a member of a social group. This social group carries on the culture. There can be no culture without human organisms who manifest the traits of this culture, and who pass on the heritage to their offspring. The human organism and the human personality carry the culture; the culture can not exist Independently of these carriers; and yet without the culture there would be no human personality, for an Individual cannot develop In Isolation. Personality and ^Victor Barnouw, Culture and Personality (New York; Dorsey Press, 1963)1 P* 8, 3 Culture are thus Inextricably intertwined and are constantly affecting and being affected by each other. As Spiro remarks, in analyzing the relationship between Culture and Personality, "personality and culture then are not mutually exclusive entities; they are part and parcel of the same 2 process of interaction," Although an individual's personality can be influenced by its culture In a variety of ways, "national character" studies attempt to answer these questions only as they refer to regularities and patterns inferred from group behavior. Individuals within a given group make similar adjustments In order to work and reside together. Of the great range of potentialities of human actions and reactions, certain patterns are manifested by participants of a given culture. It is this patterned behavior that "national character" studies attempt to analyze and these adjustments that it seeks to abstract. "National character" statements assume that there are consistent behavioral regularities which are standardized for members of the group.^ There Is a mental "set" of ^Melford Spiro, "Culture and Personality : The Natural History of a False Dichotomy," Psychiatry. 14:4-3, 1951. 3 Alex Inkeles and Daniel Levinson, "National Character* The Study of Modal Personality and Sociocultural Systems," In Gardner Llndzey (ed.) ,