機能エリートの地位特質

パーソニアンモデルによる歴代閣僚及び財閥エリートの比較分析

抄録

This study reanalyzed the data used for the writer's doctoral dissertation which was submitted to New York University. On the basis of Parson's theory on social structure and Keller's theory on functional elites, this study attempted to investigate two major elite groups of Japan-cabinet ministers and Zaibatsu leaders. The. former included the ministers between the first Ito cabinet (1885) and the second Sato cabinet (1970); the latter included the top leaders of four major zaibatsu enterprises-Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasudaat six points in time: 1922, 1929, 1937, 1945, 1955, and 1966.
The research problems were: (a) Are there any changes in the status characteristics of cabinet ministers and Zaibatsu leaders before and after the end of World War II?(b) Are there any differences in the status characteristics between cabinet ministers and Zaibatsu leaders? (c) Are there any differences between those two elite groups in the degree of change in the status characteristics?
From the theories stated above, the following hypotheses were derived: (a) Cabinet ministers and Zaibatsu leaders after World War II will be more universalistic-achievement oriented than those ministers and leaders before the end of the War; (b) Cabinet ministers will be more particularistic-ascription oriented than Zaibatsu leaders; (c) The degreeof change in the characteristics of elite status will be greater in the case of cabinet ministers than in the case of Zaibatsu leaders.
The results confirmed the first two hypotheses but not the last one. Though this study was limited in the scope of samples and the nature of data sources, it may be concluded that (a) status characteristics of Japanese elites have changed between the pre- and the post-War periods from more particularistic-ascription oriented to more universalistic-achievement oriented and (b) political elites aremore particularistic-ascription oriented than business elites.