not only closes off valuable channels of communication but, more importantly, perpetuates the immaturity of peoples incapable of grasping the problems and necessities of modernization. Leaders are aware that an illiterate population is easy prey to every pretender offering a glittering promise of a bright tomorrow.

Relationship of Education to Communications. In the capital cities of most Southeast Asian countries, the mass media are an important influence on the educated. In the rural areas, the teacher, in addition to the Buddhist priest or the village headman, assumes a highly significant role as a source of information and knowledge. Teachers are often expected to take an active role in public affairs, serve on committees and act as inspectors at elections. The teachers are very influential in persuading villagers to obey government policies and in introducing Western ideas and products.

SOCIAL VALUES

The Family. The high value placed upon the family and loyalty to the family is an important factor to be understood by any alien group attempting to work with Southeast Asians. Close family ties with the ensuing high rate of social interaction, particularly in the villages, produce intimate communities with little privacy, where news of interest can be spread rapidly via the "rice harp" or "bamboo radio" of word-of-mouth communications.

Apart from work, religious observances and holidays and family observances continue to constitute the main fabric of village life in Asia. This pattern is more enthusiastically observed in the villages than in the cities.

The structure and organization of the family have been and continue to be diverse among Southeast Asian countries. In South Viet-Nam and to a limited extent in Burma, the family is an extended or joint one-including a number of generations and subject to the control of a patriarchal head commanding a strict sense of obligation and duty.

In Indonesia (Javanese family), and Thailand, however, the small conjugal family—parents and unmarried children—is prevalent and considerable latitude in behavior is permitted. In such a system, kin ties are relatively weak, and other factors such as wealth, class, status, age, education, occupation, and religious affiliation draw men together or set them apart. In Indonesia (Sumatra) and Malaya, the neighborhood community (rukun tanggan) is a territorial entity which acquires a kinship quality, and the sense of closeness and cultural obligation may be stronger between neighbors than between distant relatives—an important distinction for communicators.

As a result of urbanization, family life in Southeast Asia is changing rapidly. Change may be traced to disruption of the family as a producing economic unit caused by the migration of its members to the city, and by the increasing need to adapt to a monetary as distinguished from a subsistence economy. As the family system breaks down, and becomes less of a focal point, townsmen are disassociating themselves from tradi

tional patterns and are beginning to respond to political parties, civic action groups and educational committees.

Particularly evident is the tendency for patriarchal authority to diminish, the status of women to be elevated, the high prestige of elders to wane, and increased individualism to characterize the society. This breakdown of informal social controls is manifest in problems of personal maladjustment and disorganization, juvenile delinquency, increased divorces, and in the acute nature of problems with which the changing family is often unable to cope in the urban setting, such as illness, unemployment and old age.

Some changes, howevever, must be recognized as desirable. These include the reduced despotism of the family head, the improved status of women and greater personal freedom. It becomes increasingly important for Asians to plan to use the new urban institutions such as schools, hospitals, playgrounds and day centers to deal with the problems of the changing family. There is a need to replace the disrupted social controls with such formal controls as police, courts, reformatories, prisons and child-women labor laws. Information on establishing these controls is often lacking and informational materials on how these controls operate in other countries are often sought.

Social Problems. Lack of information and the inability to deal with and recognize the causes of new social problems often lead these countries to single out a scapegoat for their frustrations or to make harsh judgments on foreign societies which have similar problems. American family life and cooperative community action programs are little understood in Asia. Many Asians visiting the United States criticize Americans for lack of closeness, homogeneity and responsibilities to the family. Even knowledgeable Asians criticize the seeming breakdown in authority in many American relationships, including those between parent-child, employer-employee, management-labor.

teacher-student, government-people, and

Although delinquency is becoming a problem in Asian cities, due primarily to changes in society, Asian leaders often blame this on the influence of American culture and criticize the United States for its "glaring" delinquency. Many attribute these problems to the fact that women have so much freedom, work and thus spend less time with their families a problem which Asians also are beginning to face.

Respect for Age. Respect for old age has been a traditional aspect of life in Asia and remains a significant social value. Dependent old people look to their children and grandchildren to support them. Formerly, old people were entitled to complete respect, but today, particularly in urban centers, how much is given varies with the circumstances. Burma is an example of a country which is unusually age-oriented and all social intercourse is governed by the preferential treatment accorded to senior members of a given group.

This respect for old age has application for foreign agencies operating

in Southeast Asia. For example, senior Asian officials accustomed to respect because of their age and status are often insulted when confronted with young persons from a foreign country sent to work with them on an equal basis. And Americans are often criticized by Asians visiting the United States for not paying greater deference to their elders, and for not sharing responsibility for them. To them it appears that old people are unloved and neglected, forced to get jobs and to shift for themselves in loneliness. It is difficult for them to comprehend the social mobility and occupational opportunities which take children away from their parents or the fact that old people often prefer to live an active and independent life after passing their prime.

The Nature of Authority. The predominant tendency in Asia is for authority to be hierarchical. The highly traditional nature of the society places decision-making in the hands of persons who achieved their position largely but not solely through the qualifications of kinship, age, and sex. Thus, whole sections of the population have no share in the exercise of public authority. The chief effect of this heirarchical structure of authority is to generate either excessive submissiveness among the ordinary people or an extremist egalitarianism, by way of reaction against it. The social organizations necessary for the pursuit of private interests and for the exercise of influence are lacking for the most part. Insofar as people are adjusted to this they have little interest in democracy, little concept of their rights as citizens and above all are little inclined, unless there has been a fundamental break with tradition, to speak out their own views and preferences.

Status and Power. People of Southeast Asian countries attach great importance to status and power both in social and political life. Considerations of status and power permeate human relationships, adherence to Buddhism notwithstanding. Southeast Asians define any social and political situation by the relative status and power involved, and then establish their relationship to it on the basis of these elements.

Class and status consciousness predominate in urban areas; in rural areas less emphasis is placed upon status, although respect for authority remains high. In the cities, many urbanites adopt Western material values to accrue status and thus climb the social ladder. This may contradict Buddhist tenets denying material gains, but urban elites often justify their conduct on the basis of gaining "merit" by rising in the social order. In rural areas, however, status comes more from the maintenance of spiritual tenets and morality than from material advance.

Social mobility is common in Burma, which lacks a well-defined class structure. This has bred social insecurity or ahnade. Many Burmans seek power to gain security from controversy and criticism.

In countries such as Cambodia, Laos, South Viet-Nam, Thailand, Indonesia, and to a limited extent, the Philippines, where there is little. social mobility, the prerequisites for status are wealth, family, background, formal rank and office.

Practically applied, status-consciousness affects the entire question of

regionalism within Southeast Asia and makes cooperation difficult because elites of the various countries often consider their own nation eminently superior to that of their neighbors.

Cooperation and Consultation. Cooperation and consultation are strongly linked with familial respect and play an important part in the thinking of many Southeast Asians, especially the decision-makers. Often the desire for consultation and cooperation stems from the efforts of leaders to "save face," to prevent error and to avoid ridicule and criticism. But it must also be considered as part of the religious and kinship systems of the countries.

In Indonesia, great importance is attached to cooperation, consultation, avoidance of disharmony, and decision based on general agreement. These concepts operate principally in the communally-centered Javanese society and contrast sharply with the more individualistic areas in the outlying islands. Gotong rojong, the pattern of mutual aid, is a central theme in Javanese social life. It is institutionalized in almost every aspect of village life. . . .

Attitudes toward Work and Leisure. Hard work, diligence, perseverence and punctuality are doubtful values in Southeast Asia; one does not work except if one must. Frequently, religious values related to passivity and reliance on providence condition these attitudes. Many Asians can and will work hard by any standards, but only for foreseeable ends. Work is not valued as an end in itself, and the Western idea that one should be ashamed of idleness is not found in Asia.

Leisure, especially in rural areas, comes from seasonal variations in work output. Leisure as well as work may be pursued for relatively long periods of time. Thus, individuals, and sometimes the whole country, may be given to what a Western observer would describe as veritable orgies of work and entertainment.

Gradually, ideas of leisure are changing, especially for younger people in the cities. As new forms of recreation replace old ones, adjustments on the part of all segments of the society are necessary before fear and criticism of the effects of new forms can be dispelled.

Cultural Values. As these countries attempt to seek a modus vivendi with Western cultural values and attitudes, concurrent pride in their indigenous traditional art, music, sculpture and religious philosophies remains a dominant factor. Some intellectuals and the political elite, often xenophobic and nationalistic because of their struggle for independence, consider the introduction of alien culture a disruptive influence. Criticism of what they consider the "debasing" features of American culture manifests itself as in the "anti-yellow-culture campaigns" of Singapore and Indonesia. This approach conflicts with and hinders the development of outlook and knowledge necessary for a "modernizing" society. A fusion of the best of Western and Asian forms might be a desirable compromise; so far, however, both have blossomed in separate or conflicting existences.

PSYOP Intelligence Methods

Although there are many methods used to collect and analyze intelligence, only five of the most important are illustrated in this section: intuition, direct observation, interviewing, sampling, and content analysis.

Intuition

The use of intuitive judgments, based on physical evidence of some form, is sometimes confused with guess work. However, intuitive reasoning in the PSYOP intelligence process should not be undertaken by persons who do not have expertise in the subject. In other words, it is only on the basis of a firm background that one should attempt to extrapolate and produce from such extrapolations guidelines for psychological operations. Intuition is the method of producing intelligence that is least reliable.

Direct Observation

Direct observation is an obvious-but often impractical-method of obtaining intelligence. Observation is highly desirable, but clearly, a trained observer is necessary to obtain optimum benefit from observation possibilities in many situations. Observation need not be by nationals of the intelligence-gathering state. Other friendly or neutral observers can serve the purpose equally well. Indeed, captured or surrendered enemy may have had access to certain PSYOP-relevant information by observation. (See "Interviewing" below.)

Interviewing and Interrogation

As a method of converting information possessed by individuals into usable intelligence, interviews can be a valuable tool. Interviewing can take a number of forms and can be applied to friendly, neutral, and hostile respondents. Interrogation may be considered to be a specialized form of interview.

The structuring of the interview and instrument validation procedure are required in all interview situations, whether PSYOP related or not. These are the major problems of interviewing as an intelligence assimilation technique. Another problem associated with the use of interviews is language. Translation of questions or questionnaires can be a very difficult procedure.

In the case of captured personnel, the problems of obtaining false intelligence and extracting intelligence from them are both difficult. A reasonable assessment of the reliability of the source and accuracy of the information gathered must be attempted but cannot always be accomplished. For surrendered personnel, the desire to please the interrogators may influence the content of the information given and therefore an equally stringent assessment of reliability is required.