The Discourse Of Filial Piety In Japan Summary

In the book chapter Culture, Power, and the Discourse of Filial Piety in Japan: The Disempowerment of Youth and Its Social Consequences, Hashimoto articulates well her critical point of view on what she calls “the piety ideology” and its social consequences of among Japan’s youth, giving many examples of youth’s disobedience and resistance against adults, especially parents. She argues that although the family law dissolved Ie system and implemented western ideal of nuclear family, which values equality, individual rights, freedom of choice, and voluntary unions had changed the children’s expectation for their relationship between their parents, the parents’ expectation for the filial piety (Oyakoko) has not changed. As she states the importance of obedience in Japanese family, she explains the details of how Japanese family, especially mother and teachers at school play an important role to create the filial child who understands the value of filial piety though the piety socialization and discourse. To explain how the piety ideology has survived in post-war Japan, she introduces three narratives to understand the piety discourse and its history. First, she states that the sacrificial mother and a strong mother-child tie enhance the reproduction of obedience by exposing child with the interchange of sacrifices between mother

First, what are the negative consequences of the filial piety that Hashimoto mentions in the article? Are you convinced by her argument that the filial piety plays important role for creating the social problems that she listed? Why and why not? Second, do you think the filial piety in Japan is too oppressive? Why and why not? Third, in Japan, to show respect towards older people or people whose rank is higher, we use Keigo. (respectful language) Do you think using Keigo has some negative aspects in terms of relationship between younger and older