JAPAN IN BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
19
the same time they may impede rational social reconstruction. Similar
trends, with differing historical bases, may be visible in Western nations
facing similar problems of alienation.
Second, such an approach implies a comparative frame of reference at
the same time that it seeks a deeper conception of distinctive Japanese
conditions. Sociocultural change is now a world-wide phenomenon: when
Japanese students riot, we may be sure that American students will be on
the warpath within a week or so; if the Japanese electronics industry needs
more young, skilled workers, it is likely that similar or complementary
adjustments will be made in American factories. Once again the adapta -
tional frame of reference comes into view: the problem of social change in
Japan is a problem of how Japanese, with their social resources, cope with
problems common to every industrial nation.
A third guideline for a theory of change is provided by studies of the
relationship of the structure of social roles to the process of change. The
dimensions of this theory have been emerging in behavior science studies
of Japanese society for twenty-five years, and a few recent attempts at
synthesis have appeared, such as the research on achievement patterns by
DeVos (1965). This line of inquiry is productive precisely because it forces
the anthropologist to move out and beyond his own specialties and to
absorb the theoretical implications of sociological, Sociopsychological, and
psychiatric research.
One of the more interesting consequences of the view of Japanese society
as a dual fabric of Oriental and Western has been the shifts of interest in
social science studies themselves. Westerners have been sensitive to the
nuances of tradition and modernity in Japanese thinking. When Japan
herself was in a mood to revere the past, Western studies emphasized the
unchanging traditional character of the society and culture; when Japan
turned a “modern” face to the world, the literature tended to emphasize
the similarities of Japan and the West. The first mood is represented by
Benedict’s book; the second by Bellah’s. In the 1960’s, as Japan herself began
looking back to old traditions as a source of identity and stability, many
analysts began to emphasize the unchanging character of the society again
(see Bennett 1968 for further discussion).
Needed Anthropological Research
What is missing from the roster of available behavior science studies on
Japan? In the anthropological area, we lack a study of an agricultural
community from the perspective of intensive cultural ecology on the order
of Moerman’s recent book on Thailand (1968) or Sahlins' earlier work on
MoaIa (1962). We have only a general idea of the time and energy budgets
of Japanese agrarians, their adaptive strategies, and the interrelations of
resources, labor, and population (see Ishino 1962). Since Japanese agricul-