This paper discusses connections between traditional family systems and institutional organizations in three East Asian societies. As many “ie-soiety” theorists have noted, the family unit in Japan ...served as a structural model for various institutions, most notably business corporations, during the early period of modernization in Japan. The ie (stem family) system, which emphasized continuity and seniority, but allowed for a flexible system of adoption, provided businesses with a structure that maintained a high level of integrity among its employees based on a system of seniority. Similar trends can be observed in both China and Korea. The preponderance of small businesses typical to Taiwan and Chinese diaspora stem from the traditional Chinese family system, which placed less emphasis on seniority among brothers. Likewise, Korean chaebolscan be traced to the Korean family system, which placed a higher priority on blood relationships than the Japanese family system, and a greater emphasis on seniority than the Chinese family system.
This paper reviews the genesis and change of housewives in East Asian societies : Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, North Korea and China. To recognize the housewife as a historical product is to admit the ...possibility of its disappearance. Although East Asian societies have often been treated together as a Confucian cultural sphere, the present and future status of women in these societies are remarkbly different. In socialist societies virtually all women are supposed to work in the name of "women's liberation" but the status of women is not all the same. In North Korea patriarchal traditions are so well preserved that household chores are done solely by women, whereas in China men's participation in housework is quite prevalent. Patriarchy in Taiwan does not particularly emphasize motherhood as the most inportant female role and working outside the home is often considered one of women's responsibilities. Housewives in Taiwan, therefore, are most likely to follow the American type of the vanishing housewife. By contrast Korean housewives are still largely confined to their homes and transition to the next stage is quite unlikely because of strong Confucian influence just like in their Northern counterpart. In Japan, mothering still remains an essential role for married women and therefore prevent housewives from proceeding to the next stage although Japan is for more advanced than Taiwan in the economic sense.
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