Abstract
Both by the standards of American nurses and in the eyes of the Japanese public, nurses in Japan appear subservient. In this paper I explore this situation from three perspectives. Most Japanese nurses lack a sense of professionalism which the nursing elite in Japan as well as sociological theory attributes to the low educational levels of the nurses. The second perspective investigates the nurses' functional role as intermediary between the medical world and the many patients who regard physicians as socially distant. Thirdly, Japanese nurses might be considered the “housewives” of the hospital in terms not only of their physical duties but also of their caretaking role. If the housewife analogy holds, the values, behavior, and attitudes that give Japanese housewives their satisfaction and their autonomy would considerably alter the role of the nurse in the delivery of cosmopolitan medical care.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aiba, F. Hitoshi, Izuru Shibata, and Andreas V. Wallenberg 1973 The Alcoholic Patient-Nurse Relationship Viewed in Transcultural Context. Japanese Psychological Research 15(2): 82–91.
Ajiki, Masao 1970 Iryō Shakaigaku (Medical Sociology). Tokyo: Igaku Shoin.
Ajiki, Masao and Taku Katano (eds.) 1963 Iryō Shūdan no Kōdō to Seikaku (The Behavior and Character of Medical Groups). Tokyo: Seishin Shobō.
Amano, Masako 1972 Kangofu no Rōdō to Ishiki (The Work and Attitudes of Nurses). Shakaigaku Hyōron 22 (3): 30–49.
Bartholomew, James R. 1980 The Japanese Scientific Community in Formation, 1870–1920. In Science in Modern East Asia. Laurence A. Schneider (ed.), Buffalo: State University of New York, Journal of Asian Affairs.
Berger, Michael 1976 Japanese Women — Old Images and New Realities. Japan Interpreter 11 (1): 56–67.
Caudill, William 1976 The Cultural and Interpersonal Context of Everyday Health and Illness in Japan and America. In Asian Medical Systems. Charles Leslie (ed.), Berkeley: University of California Press.
Davis, Karen 1982 Non-Nursing Functions: Our Readers Respond. American Journal of Nursing 82: 1857–1860.
Dore, Ronald 1976 The Diploma Disease. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Etzioni, Amitai (ed.) 1969 The Semi-Professions and their Organization. New York: Free Press.
Freidson, Eliot 1970 The Profession of Medicine. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
Goode, William J. 1969 The Theoretical Limits of Professionalization. In The Semi-Professions and their Organization. Amitai Etzioni (ed.), New York: Free Press.
Hance, Takahiko 1978 Kango Rōdō ni Kansuru Ikkōsatsu (A Study of Nursing Work). Shakaigaku Hyōron 29 (3): 2–19.
Hashimoto, Masami 1978 The Professional Education and Training of Non-Medical Health Personnel in Japan. Social Science and Medicine 12A: 533–538.
Hirano, Tomoko, Michiko Kanda, Koichiro Kobayashi, and Joanna Liddle 1980 Josei no Shokugyō Seikatsu to Sei Yakuwari (Women's Work Life and Sex Roles). Shakaigaku Hyōron 30(4): 17–37.
Ishihara, Shingo 1973 Byōnin ga Byōin e Iku to (When a Patient Goes to the Hospital). In Iryō o Sasaeru Hitobito (The People Who Maintain the Medical System). Asahi Shimbunsha (ed.), Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha.
Japan Institute of Labor 1981 Japanese Industrial Relations Series: Problems of Working Women. Tokyo: Japan Institute of Labor.
Kameyama, Michiko 1981–82 Kindai Nihon Kangoshi ni okeru Kangofu no Shakaiteki Chii, Hyōka ni kansuru Kenkyū: Sensō to Kango (The Social Status and Valuation of Nurses in Relation to Modern Nursing History: War and Nursing). Kango 33(8): 98–112 and 34(1): 82–96.
Kameyama, Michiko 1982–83 Kindai Nihon Kangoshi ni okeru Kangofu no Shakaiteki Chii, Hyōka ni kansuru Kenkyū: Shūkyō to Kango (The Social Status and Valuation of Nurses in Relation to Modern Nursing History: Religion and Nursing). Kango 34(14): 120–130 and 35(2): 128–138.
Kameyama, Michiko 1983 Kindai Nihon Kangoshi ni okeru Kangofu no Shakaiteki Chii, Hyōka ni kansuru Kenkyū: Kangoshi to no Kakawari de miru Ishi no Ayumi (The Social Status and Valuation of Nurses in Relation to Modern Nursing History: Physicians' Steps Affecting the History of Nursing). Kango 35(5): 130–140 and 35(6): 129–139.
Katz, Fred E. 1969 Nurses. In The Semi-Professions and their Organization. Amatai Etzioni (ed.), New York: Free Press.
Kawakami, Takeshi 1977 Gendai Nihon Iryōshi (The History of Modern Medicine in Japan), 8th ed. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō.
Kinoshita, Yasuko 1977 Kango Shokuin (Nurses). In Hoken, Iryō Shakaigaku no Seika to Kadai (The Sociology of Health and Medicine in Japan). Hoken, Iryō Shakaigaku Kenkyūkai (ed.), Tokyo: Kakiuchi Shuppan.
Kinoshita, Yasuko, Yasuko Suzuki, Mitsue Kishimoto, and Misako Matsuda 1975 Iryō no naka no Kango no Yakuwari (The Role of Nursing in Medicine). Kango Kyōshitsu 19(7): 10–18.
Kojima, Yukie 1980 Yōi Kango o Teikyō shienakatta Kangosha no Rekishi (The History of Nurses which has Failed to Provide Good Nursing). Kangogaku Zasshi 44: 1139–1143.
Kōscishō, Imukyoku, Kangoka Kanshū 1982 Shōwa 57 Kango Kankei Tōkei Shiryōshū (Statistical Data related to Nursing, 1982). Tokyo: Nihon Kango Kyōkai Shuppankai.
Krause, Elliot A. 1977 Power and Illness: the Political Sociology of Health and Medical Care. New York: Elsevier.
Kusakari, Junko 1978 Hoken Iryō Senmonshoku ni okeru Josei Shūshoku no Raifu Patān no Dōkō ni tsuite (The Life Patterns of Women's Employment in the Health Care Professions). Kōshū Eisei 42(3): 190–197.
Lebra, Takie 1976 Sex Equality for Japanese Women. Japan Interpreter 10: 284–295.
Leininger, Madeleine 1978 Nursing Care of a Patient from Another Culture: a Japanese-American Patient. In Transcultural Nursing. Madeleine Leininger (ed.), New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Levine, Eugene and Evelyn B. Moses 1982 Registered Nurses Today: a Statistical Profile. In Nursing in the 1980's — Crises, Opportunities, Challenges. Linda H. Aiken (ed.), Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott.
Lewin, Ellen and Virginia Olesen 1980 Lateralness in Women's Work: New Views on Success. Sex Roles 6: 619–629.
Nandi, Proshanta and Charles P. Loomis 1974 Professionalization of Nursing in India: Deterring and Facilitating Aspects of the Culture. Journal of Asian and African Studies 9: 43–59.
Nihon Kango Kyōkai Fukyū Kaihatsubu Chōsa Kenkyūkei 1982 Nihon Kango Kyōkai Chōsa Kenkyū Hōkoku, Shōwa 56 Nen Kaiin Jittai Chōsa (Research Report of the Japan Nursing Association: 1981 Survey of Members). Tokyo: Nihon Kango Kyōkai.
Okamoto, Yūzō 1984 Amerika no Iryō to Kango (Medicine and Nursing in America). Tokyo: Hoken Dōjinsha.
Osako, Masako M. 1978 Dilemmas of Japanese Professional Women. Social Problems 26: 15–25.
Rowland, Howard S. (ed.) 1978 The Nurse's Almanac. Rockville, Md.: Aspen Systems Crop.
Salamon, Sonya 1975 “Male Chauvanism” as a Manifestation of Love in Marriage. In Adult Episodes in Japan. David W. Plath (ed.), Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Shimizu, Terumi 1973 Kango Kyōiku no naka no Watashi (As a Nurse-Educator). In Iryō o sasaeru Hitobito (The People who Maintain the Medical System). Asahi Shimbunsha (ed.), Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha.
Shyrock, Richard H. 1978 Nursing Emerges as a Profession: The American Experience. In Sickness and Health in America. Judith W. Leavitt and Ronald L. Numbers (eds.), Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Simpson, Richard L. and Ida Harper Simpson 1969 Women and Bureaucracy in the Semi-Professions. In The Semi-Professions and their Organization. Amitai Etzioni (ed.), New York: Free Press.
Stein, Leonard I. 1967 Male and Female: the Doctor-Nurse Game. Archives of General Psychiatry 16: 699–703.
Sugaya, Akira 1976 Nihon Iryō Seido Shi (The History of Japanese Medicine). Tokyo: Hara Shobō.
Suzuki, Atsuko 1977–78 Kangofu no Ishiki Kōzō ni kansuru Sedai Kattō no Sokumen (The Generation Gap in Nurses' Opinions). Kango Tembō 2: 842–849, 926–931 and 3: 164–171, 503–510.
Takeda, C. 1967 Iryō Shūdan ni okeru Ningen Kankei no Shūdanryokugakuteki Kenkyū (A Collective Behavioral Study of Human Relations in Medical Groups). Kyōiku to Igaku 15(9): 56–59.
Tani, Miyuki 1973 Jujishatachi no Ariyō (Health Care Workers). In Iryō o sasaeru Hitobito (The People who Maintain the Medical System). Asahi Shimbunsha (ed.), Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha.
Vogel, Ezra 1971 Japan's New Middle Class, 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Vogel, Suzanne H. 1978 Professional Housewife: the Career of Urban Middle Class Japanese Women. Japan Interpreter 12: 16–43.
Vollmer, Howard M. and Donald Mills (eds.) 1966 Professionalization. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Long, S.O. The sociocultural context of nursing in Japan. Cult Med Psych 8, 141–163 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00054613
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00054613