Toward a cultural broadening of feminist theory: A comparison of everyday outlooks on social roles, dissent, and feminism among United States and Japanese adults.

The goal of the dissertation was to contribute to the cultural broadening of feminist theories through a comparison of perceptions of everyday family and work role relationships, approaches to dissent, and receptivity to feminism among samples of European-American and Japanese adults. The research sought to demonstrate that views of these issues cannot be explained exclusively by reference to experiences of gender discrimination, but rather require taking into account individuals' culturally-based beliefs and practices. The dissertation consisted of three investigations: (a) a secondary data analysis study of nationally representative samples, (b) an interview study of middle-aged activists and non-activists, and (c) a questionnaire study of college females and males. Results revealed that the European-American respondents' views of everyday role relationships reflected a self-oriented frame, in which relationships were appraised as either contributing to, or detracting from individuals' abilities to make choices, and attain self-fulfillment. In contrast, the Japanese respondents approached roles in terms of a more social orientation, which emphasized the importance of forming harmonious relationships, along with an awareness of the impact that one's behavior has on others. The findings also revealed that whereas the outlooks of European-Americans regarding dissent and feminism overlapped with the stances assumed in contemporary U.S. feminist theories, the Japanese endorsed a form of dissent that incorporates consensual agreement and a vision of feminism that focuses more on society as a whole including a recognition of one's social responsibilities. The Japanese and European-American respondents also were found to share common concerns with issues important to feminism, such as the need for greater opportunity for women in the workplace. The results highlight the need to recognize the implicit grounding of contemporary U.S. feminist theories in the values of European-American culture, as well as the need to acknowledge the level of satisfaction that is associated with cultural systems that differ from the European-American model. In addition, the work points to the importance in future theory and research on feminist issues to integrate concerns with issues of power dynamics and discrimination, with greater attention to sociocultural meanings and practices.Ph.D.PsychologySocial SciencesSocial psychologySocial researchWomen's studiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/123330/2/3075407.pd