Japanese Society: Tradition, Self, and the Social Order

by Robert J. Smith

As the world's only major industrial society yet to emerge from outside the Western tradition, Japan has evolved into an industrial state very different from those of the West. Robert Smith argues that this difference is found not so much in organisational and institutional forms as in the Japanese view of the relationship of individuals to one another and to society as a whole. He traces the origin of this difference to the historical traditions of Japan, which rest on cultural premises quite unlike those of the Western world. His compelling and convincing analysis of contemporary Japanese society has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the nature of the modern industrial world.

Genres: Japan, Nonfiction, Sociology, Anthropology

Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Dr. Robert John Smith was an American anthropologist who for many years taught at Cornell University. He initially joined Cornell's Department of Anthropology and Sociology as an Assistant Professor in 1955. He was named Goldwin Smith Professor of Anthropology in 1974. He became President of the Association for Asian Studies in 1988, and in 1993 the Japanese government bestowed on him the Order of the Rising Sun. Professor Smith retired in 1997.