Samurai and Sarariiman: The Discourse on Masculinity in Modern Japan

Abstract

Historically orientated women’s and gender studies have recently become a firmly established field of research in the social science sector of Japanese studies. This corresponds to the generally strong position that gender studies have acquired in the human and social sciences today. Women’s and gender studies have proliferated in academic circles, since the question of gender is today viewed as both a socially and a culturally constructed phenomenon. Suddenly, all kinds of scholars, including those who either because of their age or because of their attitude formerly did not show any interest in the claims of feminist women’s studies during and after the 1970s, are borrowing heavily from the problems and methods generally pursued by gender studies for their own research. Thus feminist women’s studies have to a certain extent been replaced by gender studies, even though the latter is looked at with scepticism by the representatives of the so-called “old” women’s liberation movement. Feministically orientated women’s studies usually have their roots in the political call for liberating women and for overcoming the traditional patriarchal structure of academic life. These scholars are now confronted with the fact that their topics of research are being occupied by various other academic disciplines. Thus, these topics are gradually losing their political relevance (Mies 1997:60–61).