ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Japan's gender-based division of labor, discusses typical family patterns, especially for females, and then discusses how these patterns are relevant to our discussion of social order. It explains that social control is best maintained in high visibility environments where inappropriate behavior can be observed and sanctioned. Obviously, the absence of parents will greatly reduce the amount of control parents can exercise over a child's behavior. As with other areas of Japanese society, attitudes toward traditional gender roles and the structure of the family provide an interesting contrast with other modern industrialized societies. The chapter also discusses various topics where individuality and freedom of choice are sacrificed, not wholly voluntarily, because the social structure and social norms dictate such a sacrifice. Such sacrifices are not necessarily antithetical to one's own self-interests. Specifically, recent increases in divorce, dual-income couples, and a decrease in multigenerational families have been blamed for this increase.
