著者

荒木 康代

出版者

社会学研究会

雑誌

ソシオロジ (ISSN:05841380)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.51, no.3, pp.57-73,207, 2007

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The purpose of this paper is to consider why the wives of merchant families had the authority to manage their family businesses (with the help of several apprentices) under the Japanese patriarchal "Ie" system before World War II. In this paper, I will describe the "Goryonsan" who were the wives of merchants in the Osaka Senba area. Goryonsan had great influence and considerable authority in the management of the merchant families. Looking at this type of female role, I intend to analyze what gave these women their authority. Some researchers have explained their authority in terms of "continuation and prosperity of the Ie family". They assert that the Ie family was very important to merchant families and it was therefore required that women with business skills participate in its management in order to accomplish the continuation and prosperity of the Ie family. I think this is a reasonable explanation. But in this paper, I concentrate on the human relationships in the shops and homes in Senba merchant families. In the Senba merchant stores, the merchants families lived with their employees, and the work space was family space as well. Goryonsan had the role of caring for, disciplining, and managing the boy apprentices both in the house and the store. In particular the womens role in disciplining the boy apprentices so that they would become good merchants was very important to the family business. And these relationships between Goryonsan and the employees continued for a long time. Under these circumstances, it seems to have been inevitable that women would take on a dominant role in the management of the house, as well as the store. It was this system of the merchant families that gave them authority.