A retrospective analysis of a wartime ?national character? study [1

Abstract

During World War II a new "discipline" emerged as a result of endeavors in psychol? ogical warfare against the Axis Powers. Led primarily by anthropologists, the national character studies undertaken during this period were attempts at analyzing the character struc? tures of various nationalities, cultures, and peoples [2]. These projects were often done "at a dis? tance," i.e., because of wartime exigencies, ac? cess to the peoples and their nations or cultures was not possible. Consequently interviews of immigrants in the United States and analyses of published and unpublished materials and of films and radio broadcasts were the methods which were employed. So far as the national char acter studies of the Japanese are concerned, per? haps the best known (and generally paradigmat? ic) is Ruth Benedict's The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture, pub? lished in 1946. Less well known but neverthe? less important are two studies of Japanese na? tional character which antedated Benedict's and which were also undertaken by anthropol? ogists. In 1943, Geoffrey Gorer, who was to later gain notoriety for his study of the Russian people, published his "Themes in Japanese Cul? ture." Two years later, Weston LaBarre, pres? ently professor emeritus of anthropology at Duke University, published his "Some Observa? tions on Character Structure in the Orient: The Japanese" [3]. It is LaBarre's publication which will be the