Sociology

Individualism and Collectivism

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United States from the perspective of sociology.

Even though I have been raised in Japan for long periods of time, I did not notice this is weird that I am not able to see any other races in Japan.. Nakane emphasized that Japan is a homogeneous society where it historically has been formed(Nakane , location 2304) . From her statement, Japan has developed a homogeneous and group oriented society. However Sugimoto insists “The notion of Japan as a racially homogeneous society has come under question as a consequence of the growing visibility of foreign migrants in the country.(Sugimoto,P6, 2014)”

Based on my experience, Japan has been getting better about the group

oriented mindset but the mindset of collectivism is still deeply rooted among Japanese people as a matter of fact. For example, at the schools and workplaces, there are many situations that Japanese people need to prioritize the group over the personal opinion.

It is perceived as bad action if you directly advocate your personal opinion over the group since it disturbs collectivism. Therefore, I felt that I negatively acted in a Japanese society when I claimed my personal opinion to a group of people such as friends and colleagues.

Whereas, people in the United States prioritized the individuals over the

groupness based on my studying abroad experience in the United States. For example,

when I worked with American students in Leadership and Communication Seminar,

each American student gave different opinions and sometimes they disagreed with

each other by saying “I like how she and he thinks but I do not disagree with your

idea.” Since all American students have different opinions and ideas, the individual is

more prioritized over the group.

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relationships with assertiveness in education. When I studied abroad in the United States, I had to express my feelings and insist on my opinion in daily life whenever I attended classes or needed help from my American friends. Especially when I attended a seminar in Communication and Leadership, Professor Drumwright taught me that “it is crucial to bring different values for the group and community.Everyone in the class respects your opinion and appreciates your ideas.” Since people in the United States tend to individualism more than collectivism, somehow, it was

comfortable to advocate my opinion and think my opinion is valuable for the group.

Also, American people have an open mind to other opinions since the United State is a multicultural nation even though there are many cultural issues related to race.

Throughout my life in the United States, I felt each young American respect other opinions even if they have different ideas. Individualism in the United States makes people comfortable to claim and share their opinion with others. Therefore, I think Japanese government should provide more opportunities for Japanese children where they exchange their ideas and grow their perspectives.

Gender Inequality

Nowadays, the discrimination against women is kind of oldfasion. Since many

countries such as the United States accept Kamala Harris as a vice president for the

country, I believe the perspective against gender equality is one of the crucial

benchmarks to globalize the country itself. The recent article shows the issue of

gender gap in Japan, “Mr. Mori’s remarks symbolize traditional Japan Inc.’s

pathology.(Kyodo, Feb 10, 2020).” This article apparently brings up how Japanese

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will introduce the distinct norms against gender equality between Japan and the United States since it is one of the important themes to globalize norms in Japan and improve Japanese Education.

Based on my experience living in Japan, many Japanese companies still have stereotypes and prejudice against women compared to the United States. In fact, many women have struggled to develop their successful career due to glass ceilings in Japan. “The Reuters Corporate Survey, conducted Sep. 29-Oct.8, found 71% of Japanese firms said women accounted for less than 10% of management , while 17% had no female managers at all.(Kajimoto,2020)” Regarding Kajimoto’s Statement, even though there are some laws conducting for gender equality at the workplace, those laws have not been functioning properly. On the other hand, I met many women who have worked at the managerial rules when I worked at the

company in the United States as an intern. As another outstanding example, Carly Florina and Patricia Russo, the CEO of Hewlett-Packardand and Lucent, are great examples that AT&T has attempted to give more opportunities for women to get promotion to management positions(Black,2003). It remarkably shows that there are more successful women in the United States than women in Japan.

To catch up with the global standards and break the traditional norms against

women in Japan, Japanese Education has to provide the opportunity for children to

discuss the glass ceiling against women. The reason is that this root of the issues

comes from social pressure. Nagisa Inoue stated that the social pressure from people

surrounding a woman at the workplace or outside the workplace hinders women to

have professional success(Inoue, 2017). For example, I was surprised during job

hunting in Japan that men still are not able to take paternity leave for their family, but

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paternity and maternity leaves regarding my working experience in Hawaii.

Therefore, this traditional environment makes women difficult to be successful.

In conclusion, I think studying abroad in other countries makes me more flexible and assertive about the social issues related to gender equality in Japan. At the same time, I realize that the Japanese Education should provide more

opportunities for children to learn about the discrimination against women and race.

This cricculam is great because children are able to learn about how women have been suffering due to the Japanese tradition, and this helps to generate globalized points of views among people in Japan as people in Western countries already have.

If Japan provided such a program, Japan would be able to provide a great educational program to inculcate globalized minds for children to become successful

internationally and domestically.