Japanese Adolescent Boys’ Senses of Empathy (Omoiyari) and Carol Gilligan’s Perspectives on the Morality of Care: A Phenomenological Approach

Abstract

This study replicated the interview method of Carol Gilligan and her colleagues to examine the nature of the care perspective in Japanese adolescents’ real-life experiences of moral conflicts and decision making. Four emergent themes that contradicted Gilligan’s theoretical perspectives were identified: (1) both Japanese male and female adolescents showed what Gilligan would call a ‘female’ (i.e. ‘care-oriented’) concern; (2) the care orientation was expressed as a normative voice of a larger (Japanese) society, whereas Gilligan saw it as a subordinate (to justice) voice of male-oriented Western society; (3) caring and justice were linked in the thought and actions of Japanese adolescents, whereas Gilligan saw them as polar opposites; (4) Japanese adolescents saw caring as a communal responsibility, whereas Gilligan saw it as individual feelings. Implications for the applicability of Gilligan’s concept of the morality of care in crosscultural research are discussed.

Keywords

adolescents Carol Gilligan Japan morality of care phenomenology

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