Technology and the Culture of Progress in Meiji Japan

by David G. Wittner

This book is an examination of technological change and the beliefs that were the engines of change in the nineteenth century iron and silk reeling industries. By situating Meiji Japan firmly within the Victorian world, David Wittner demonstrates that Japanese officials believed in a civilizational hierarchy based on technological superiority, and that officials selected and rejected industrial technologies because of the cultural symbolism of technological artefacts. Taking the story to the dawn of the first Sino-Japanese War, he argues that shifting national priorities and a growing international self-confidence changed the direction of industrial modernization. As a cultural history of technology, this book serves as a corrective to several common assumptions posited by developmental economic theorists regarding nineteenth century Japanese industrialization. Technology and the Culture of Progress in Meiji Japan will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese history, industrial development, economic development, cultural studies, and the history of technology.

Genres: History, Japan

199 pages, ebook

First published September 1, 2007