Ie ( J apanese Family System)

Abstract

The Ie is popularly viewed as Japan's traditional stem family system. Debates about the Ie played an enormous role in Japan's modernization and had a great impact on the formation of various theories among Japanese intellectuals. Theories favoring the Ie paradigm tend to argue against the prevailing postwar unilineal nuclearization theory of the Japanese Ie and emphasize the hybrid character of the postwar Japanese family system as both modern and traditional.