Jon P. Alston

Wa, Guanxi, and Inhwa: Managerial principles in Japan, China, and Korea

Persons doing business with those in Japan, China, and Korea must realize that the guiding principles of management in each country, while sharing some features, differ in others.

Race and Attitudes Toward Local Police Another Look

Using 1973 national poll data, this article finds that race and nine other standard demographic variables account for little of the variation in how well people like their local police. Nevertheless, several weak but intriguing relationships emerge. While blacks dislike local police significantly more than whites, age, rather than race, is the best predictor in the overall sample. Further, different forces are related to these attitudes within

Review of the polls: acceptance of abortion among white Catholics and Protestants, 1962 and 1975.

Two surveys of white American Protestants and Roman Catholics during 1962 and 1975 asked three questions dealing with the legalization of abortion. The data indicate that there has been a slight Protestant-Catholic decrease in attitudinal differences. Nearly all Protestant categories became more favorable toward abortion. By contrast, the Catholics who became relatively more accepting of abortion were primarily those who were young.

Religiosity and Black Militancy: A Reappraisal

Data from a 1969 nationwide sample of black adults revealed a weaker association between religiosity and militant attitudes than Marx found in a 1964 sample. Further exploration uncovered an interesting reason for this finding. In 1964 blacks who were more religious were less militant within each of several age, sex, and denominational categories Marx examined, whereas in 1969 this was not the case. Among older black adults, males and Baptists, the more religious were decidedly less militant, perhaps even more so than in 1964. However, among younger black adults, females and members of denominations other than Baptists, the relationship was reversed: the more religious were slightly more militant. Since additional investigation disclosed no compelling methodological reason for this finding, we suggest that it might be interpreted in terms of changes between 1964 and 1969 in the meaning of militancy to particular segments of the black population and/or in the cultural systems of predominantly black churches.

Divorce in Contemporary Japan

Data from the 1985-86 Japanese census are analysed to explore the determinants of the divorce rates in Japans forty-seven prefectures, using two theoretical models: (a) the social integration model, which is shown to have a greater utility in predicting Japanese divorce levels than (b), the human capital model. Female emigration patterns play a significant role in affecting the divorce rate. Population increase and net household income are also important predictors of the Japanese divorce rate and urbanization has a great influence in modern Japan. Demographic and aggregate variables such as migration, urbanization, and socioeconomic factors are useful when organized under a social integration model.

Awarding bonuses the Japanese way

Jon P. Alston is Professor of Sociology at Texas A&M University. The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Center for Research in Free Enterprise, and the coopera t ion of Ron West and Chris Ordendain. He is current ly working on a book on how Americans can adopt Japanese managerial practices. Although Japanese and American cultures vary in significant ways, some aspects of the Japanese reward system could be adapted to improve productivity and morale in American firms.

Politics and the Black Church in a Southern Community

Beginning in the late 1940s after the abolition of the allwhite Democratic primary, the Southern Black church increasingly became a focal point for newly emerging Black political activities. The significance of the Black church in politics was due to the fact that Black clergymen played crucial political middleman roles between the emerging Black electorate and interested white politicians.1 With the passage of time and the growth of Black political activity, however, more secular social and political institutions began to supplant the Black clergy as chief political cue givers for their communities (Davidson, 1972; Murray and Vedlitz, 1974). One result was that the Black clergy lost some of its political influence as other Black activists were able to develop their own secular power bases.

Ecological Determinants of Divorce: A Structural Approach to the Explanation of Japanese Divorce

This paper examines the ecological determinants of contemporary Japanese divorce rates on the prefectural level. LISREL and computer-generated graphics are the analytic methods used. The aggregate level of analysis demands the use of the ecological model which posits that demographic changes, economic activities, migration patterns, and the level of urbanization are significant predictors of divorce rate. Our analysis demonstrates that sex ratio, female labor force participation, female in-migration patterns, population increase, and net household income all play a significant role in affecting the divorce rate. Our findings also confirm the well-supported hypothesis that both population density and modernization positively influence modern Japans divorce rates. The residual analysis also points out that in order to account for the large proportion of the unexplained variance of Japanese divorce, behavioral-related variables and island- or prefecture-specific dimensions need to be included in the ecological model of divorce.

Japan as number one?: Social problems of the next decades☆

Abstract Japans post-war economic success should be seen as situationally as well as culturally determined. As the conditions that prompted the ‘Japanese miracle’ change, a number of problems will emerge in Japanese society; the ageing of the population and the effects of modernization on the attitudes of workers towards their corporate employers will inhibit further economic growth. Western management, searching for the key to the miracle, should take note.

Who are the Japan Bashers? Evidence from national surveys, 1974–1985

Analysis of surveys of the American population during 1974—1985 displays a relatively stable, positive evaluation of Japan. Almost half (40%) of the 1985 respondents gave Japan one of the three most favorable ratings on a scale of ten. Regression analysis indicates that age, education, and family income form the best predictors of attitudes toward Japan. Those who are older, less educated and poorer hold less favorable attitudes toward Japan.