Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

East Asian Social Movements pp 63–79Cite as

A Comparative Study of Social Movements for a Post-nuclear Energy Era in Japan and the USA

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies ((NCSS))

Abstract

In contrast with skepticism about nuclear energy in the USA and most advanced Western countries from late 1970s to early 2000s, Japan, South Korea, and China have shared a pro-nuclear energy policy during these years. These differences partly reflected the strength, influence, and the success of the anti-nuclear movement in the USA and Western countries like Germany, compared to its weaker Japanese counterpart. Using data from case studies of anti-nuclear movements in Japan and the USA, this study explains the different outcomes using the author’s “triangular model of social movement analysis (TRIM).” As a theoretical framework, the TRIM compares the two countries on three major factors: (1) political opportunity structure (openness of political system to popular input); (2) resources, actors, and major support base; and (3) framing based on culture and attitudes (for example, public confidence in technology).

This paper was thoroughly revised and updated based on the original version, appeared in the International Journal of Japanese Sociology, No. 4 in 1995.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Comparative sociological study on nuclear issues among western countries has been already initiated: Jasper (1990) dealt with the nuclear energy policies of the USA, France and Sweden, and Joppke (1990, 1992) discussed the anti-nuclear movements in the USA and West Germany. I believe the original version of this paper (Haegawa 1995) was the first comparative sociological analysis focusing on the differences on the anti-nuclear activities of Japan and the USA with stress on “the post-nuclear phase”.

  2. 2.

    Since 2005 when the Kyoto Protocol on global warming gas reduction was enacted, in Western countries, especially in the USA, the nuclear industry has boosted a “nuclear energy renaissance” and has tried to get orders to construct new reactors. US electric utilities have a plan to construct 8 new reactors under the strong financial support of Bush and Obama administration as the end of 2009.

References

  • Benford, R. D. and D. A. Snow. 2000. “Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment.” Annual Review of Sociology 26:611–639.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Broadbent, J. 1998. Environmental Politics in Japan: Networks of Power and Protest. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Funabashi, H., K. Hasegawa and N. Iijima (eds). 1998. Kyodai chiiki kaihatsu no koso to kiketsu: Mutsu Ogawara kaihatsu to kakunenryo saikuru shisetsu (Vision versus results in a large-scale industrial development project in the Mutsu-Ogawara district: a sociological study of social change and conflict in Rokkasho village). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa K. 1995. “A Comparative Study of Social Movements for the Post- Nuclear Energy Era in Japan and the United States.” International Journal of Japanese Sociology 4:21–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa K. 1996. Datsugenshiryoku shakai no sentaku: Shin enerugi kakumei no jidai (A choice for a post-nuclear society: The age of new energy revolution). Tokyo: Shin’yosha.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa K. 1999. “Global Climate Change and Japanese Nuclear Policy.” The International Journal of Japanese Sociology 8:183–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa K. 2003. “Kankyo undo no tenkai to shinka (Environmental movements in Japan: development and prospects).” pp.179–215 in Social Movements: Sociology in Japan 15, edited by Y. Shujiro. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa K. 2004. Constructing Civil Society in Japan: Voices of Environmental Movements. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa K. 2005. “The Development of the NGO Activities in Japan: A New Civil Culture and Institutionalization of Civic Action.” pp.110–122 in Civil Life, Globalization, and Political Change in Asia, edited by R. Waller. Oxford: Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa K. and T. Yuko. 2001. JCO Criticality Accident and Local Residents: Damages, Symptoms and Changing Attitudes, Data and Analysis of the Results of a Field Survey of Tokai-mura and Naka-machi Residents. Tokyo: Citizen's Nuclear Information Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa K. and J. Broadbent. 2005. “From Idealism to Profitability: The Transformation of Participatory Incentives in Green Energy Movements.” A Paper for Presentation at the 100th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa K., C. Shinohara and J. Broadbent. 2007. “Effects of ‘Social Expectation’ on the Development of Civil Society in Japan.” Journal of Civil Society 3(2):179–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jasper, J. M. 1990. Nuclear Politics: Energy and the State in the United States, Sweden and France. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joppke, C. 1992. Mobilizing Against Nuclear Energy: A Comparison of West Germany and the United States. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitschelt, H. P. 1986. “Political Opportunity Structures and Political Protest: Anti-Nuclear Movements in Four Democracies.” British Journal of Political Science 16:57–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klandermans, B. 1986. “New Social Movements and Resource Mobilization: The European and the American Approach.” International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 4:13–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klandermans, B. and S. Tarrow. 1988. “Mobilization into Approaches.” International Social Movement Research 1:1–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kriesi, H., R. Koopmans, J. W. Duyvendak and M. G. Giugni. 1995. The Politics of New Social Movements in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovins, H. L. et al. 1992. “Energy Policy.” pp. 671–686 in Changing America: Blueprints for New Administration, edited by M. Green. New York, NY: New market Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McAdam, Doug. 1996. “Conceptual Origins, Current Problems, Future Directions.” pp. 23–40 in Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures and Cultural Framings, edited by D. McAdam, J. D. McCarthy and M. N. Zald. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McAdam, Doug, John D. McCarthy and Mayer N. Zald (eds). 1996. Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures and Cultural Framings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, John D. and Mayer N. Zald. 1977. “Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory.” American Journal of Sociology 82(6):1212–1241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melucci, Alberto. 1989. Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual Needs in Contemporary Society. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Offe, Claus. 1985. “New Social Movements: Challenging the Boundaries of Institutional Politics.” Social Research 52(4):817–868.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snow, David A., E. Burke Rochford Jr., Steven K. Worden and Robert D. Benford. 1986. “Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization and Movement Participation.” American Sociological Review 51:464–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takubo (Hirabayashi), Yuko. 1996. “Kariforunia shu ‘genshiryoku anzenho’ no seiritsu katei (The enactment of the ‘nuclear moratorium law’ in California).” Kankyo shakaigaku kenkyu (Journal of Environmental Sociology) 2:91–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Touraine, Alain. 1985. “An Introduction to the Study of Social Movements.” Social Research 52(4):749–787.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoshioka Hitoshi. 1999. Genshiryoku no shakaishi (Social history of nuclear energy in Japan). Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zald, Mayer N. and John D. McCarthy. 1987. Social Movements in an Organizational Society: Collected Essays. New Brunswick, CT: Transaction.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

    Koichi Hasegawa

Authors
  1. Koichi Hasegawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Koichi Hasegawa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Sociology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 55455, Minnesota, USA

    Jeffrey Broadbent

  2. Sociology Program, Southwest Minnesota State University, State St. 1501, Marshall, 56258, Minnesota, USA

    Vicky Brockman

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Hasegawa, K. (2011). A Comparative Study of Social Movements for a Post-nuclear Energy Era in Japan and the USA. In: Broadbent, J., Brockman, V. (eds) East Asian Social Movements. Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09626-1_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation