ABSTRACT
Currently, a debate exists in the discipline of communication studies regarding the usefulness of continuing traditional, behaviorally based research on gender in interpersonal and organizational settings. In contrast, a body of literature that constitutes qualitative, ethnographic, and cultural analyses of how men and women communicate indicates that there are decided differences in the overall communicative style and with the specific communication strategies employed by men and women in a variety of contexts. This chapter looks to qualitative studies, which better address the cultural milieu in which Japanese gender differences and similarities are expressed. Wetzel argued that although the notion of power in the West has been the subject of a great deal of debate and controversy, it has not received the same sort of attention in Japan. If sex differences are due to gender, sex differences as they are manifested in countries and cultures may vary due to differences in social roles, power structures, religious practices, and other cultural factors.
