Abstract
The present paper discusses a comparative study of social values between Germany and Japan, based on the data of ALLBUS (1982) and the nationwide survey data collected in Japan in 1991. The main topics are a) desirable quality for a child, b) legal abortion, c) most important aspect of job, d) meaning of Life, e) share received in a social life, f) country's goal, and g) membership in organizations.
Results of the survey analysis on these topics show some differences between the two nations. For example, on “desirable quality for a child”, the Germans desire qualities concerned with a child's personal traits while the Japanese desire qualities which would seem to be concerned with interpersonal relationships. The Japanese belong to over twice the number of organizations that Germans do, implying that relationships with others are more important for the Japanese. As for “legal abortion”, the Japanese do not have firm opinions. The Germans tended to consider legal abortion somewhat less acceptable than the Japanese, and show some variations of their opinions on age and religion depending on the content of questions about legal abortion.
