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

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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.