Abstract:

This study focuses on the perceptual judgments of independence/dependence made by aging Japanese Canadians. A sample of Japanese Canadians in Toronto, Ontario, aged between 51-67 were asked to explain how they were raised & to discuss factors that influenced their attitudes about old age & dependency of the aged. Based on the interview data, two contrasting models of age norms are constructed, one representing Japan & the other North America. Confucian filial piety is contrasted with North American individualism. The sources of socialization depend on the places & types of social interaction an individual normally experiences (eg, school, peer groups, internment). Socialization is not a linear process that ends at adulthood; it is a constant process of interaction between the individual & the environment. The Nisei (second-generation) Japanese Canadians have blended two mutually exclusive norms & expectations, exemplifying their basic cultural ambivalence, but formulating a workable synthesis of independence/dependence as a means of facing the external social forces & of maintaining family integration. 38 References.