1. Stereotypical Role Models in Western and Non-Western Children's Literature.
- Author
-
Sugino, Toshiko
- Abstract
A study investigated the portrayal of mothers and fathers in Japanese and non-Japanese children's literature and how stereotypically they are depicted as role models. Japanese public libraries contain many translated foreign books, mostly Western in origin. For this study's purposes, 25 Japanese books, 25 translated books from English-speaking countries, and 25 translated books from non-English-speaking European countries were selected based on the following criteria: originally published after 1980; titles that obviously do not indicate the main character's gender, or books about parents; and each book by a different author. The first hypothesis, that mothers and fathers are still depicted in stereotypical situations, was supported. The second hypothesis, that mothers and fathers are depicted more often in stereotypical situations in Japanese books, was not supported; both Japanese and non-Japanese mothers were depicted as socially inactive, spending most of the day at home or in the neighborhood. English-speaking mothers were depicted most frequently as cooking or making pies and cakes. As far as jobs were concerned, 27 of the mothers from both kinds of books hold a job. Comparing Japanese and non-Japanese fathers, the number of occurrences between non-Japanese fathers and children was almost three times as many as the Japanese. Findings show that traditional stereotypical images still exist in children's literature. (Contains 6 references, 8 notes and 2 tables.) (NKA)
- Published
- 2000