The Difference between Social Truths and Generalized Truths

[BlaqJap]

It may seem like a long title but it's not a very complex concept. During my extended leave away from this site I came across two interesting books on Japan. I read both and have come up with this difference. One was Japan - A Global Studies Handbook by Lucien Ellington and the other was A Voice From Japan by Carolyn Meyer.

The Handbook was from early 2003 and the other from late 1988. Basically, the handbook was a general view of all areas. The Diet, Corruption, History, Institution and that was rounded out with some good ol' percentages of this and that. The other book was more of a personal experience, as she takes you through interviews and such. What is the connection that makes this thread make sense?

I've found that many of the generalizations and even personal takes from the Handbook are proved wrong or widely different from Carolyn Meyer's view. While I first thought this was because of the year, I soon found how this transcends over different years. One example is of the teenages. The handbooks leads you to believe that they never leave the house and only study while they sometimes go out with there friends on Sundays with little or no money. Meyer's book shows big sums of allowances and a history of partying and being treated like kings and queens of the house. You can only imagine my shock to read that.

So my question is this, do you think there is a significant difference between what the 'real' society of Japan is and what is presented in Generelized textbooks or am I really making nothing out of a small variation? Note that the handbook is one used in college. Also note that the other book brings up this strong difference as Japan's two 'faces'.

 

[mad pierrot]

do you think there is a significant difference between what the 'real' society of Japan is and what is presented in Generelized textbooks or am I really making nothing out of a small variation?

Yes, there is a significant difference, although the generalized text and the more specialized text both have equal importance in my mind. I don't think that the general text you described is misleading anymore than the other. When you are researching something, you need to look at a variety of sources, and you're bound to come across conflicting data. Another thing you need to keep in mind when reading textbooks that deal with sociology on a broad scale; it's dealing with things on a broad scale. Just because it says something like "most Japanese students study in juku" doesn't mean that there aren't some who don't. And, when you're dealing with a population in the hundreds of millions, "some" can be a very large number. You need to look at both kinds of sources if you're serious about learning.

I've found that many of the generalizations and even personal takes from the Handbook are proved wrong or widely different from Carolyn Meyer's view.

Proved wrong? How? With stats? One doesn't necessarily disprove the other. They can be conflicting and both be right. And, as you pointed out, there is nearly 15 years between the publishing dates, which means the gap between the research might even be longer. 15 years can make a big difference.
FYI- I haven't read either of those books. Why not post an example of the issue from each?

I'm not quite sure as to what you imply by social truths and generalized truths. Couldn't there be such a thing as a generalized social truth?

 

[BlaqJap]

Proved wrong? How? With stats? One doesn't necessarily disprove the other. They can be conflicting and both be right

Maybe wrong was the wrong word. I didn't mean to imply that one was better than the other nor that one was more right than the other. But I do see what you mean on other things though. Thank you for the advice on reading at a broader scale. I hadn't thought of that.

I will try my best to get a quote or two from one of the books as an example as you suggested. When I said social truths I mean what 'really' goes on in that society and generalized truths as what that society wants everyone to believe they are like. But with generalized truths it doesn't spread over a large scale of that society. I hope I'm making sense.