ABSTRACT
Modern Japan is not as personally alienating as it is for many who seek individualized means of escaping a negatively regarded social status, as in the United States. Perhaps the most poignant material that we had gathered concerning the social self-identity of the Burakumin had to do with early experiences by children when they discover themselves and their families to be members of a disparaged group. The chief difference seems to be that whereas casual infidelity by a man was taken for granted in both the Buraku and traditional majority society, especially if the man is a good hard worker and supports his family, the Buraku was also lenient toward women. Rather than concerted group action, individuals in this area tended to face their problems alone without much social support or solidarity to bolster them. Social solidarity is reinforced within the community by a feature which in itself creates caste status, namely, enforced endogamy.
