Abstract
This chapter invites readers, both non-Japanese and Japanese alike, to contemplate how Japan’s educational sociology can take its rightful place in the global conversation but in ways that avoid being reduced to either comfortable commonality or incommensurable uniqueness. It argues for greater attention to the themes of “borrowing” and the processes of externally driven modernity. It deepens this discussion with reference to rich comparative-historical sociological work that has long argued that Japan constitutes a civilization distinct in its non-axial premises. It concludes with reflections on the current state of the field and an appeal, particularly aimed at younger scholars, to remain committed to de-axialization as the way forward in this new Global Age.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
China represents another example, a civilization whose axis revolved, albeit quite divergent from the West, around an Emperor who had to align with the universal Mandate of Heaven (tianming), usually through following the teachings of the Confucian sages (see Schwarz 1985; Hall and Ames 1998; as related to subjectivity, see Zhao 2009).
- 3.
Of note here are connections to sociologist John Clammer (1995) who writes: “A vitally interesting question here is whether Japan has succeeded in taming modernity by understanding subjectivity (shutaisei) not as the opposite of the ‘objective’ but as the creation of a form of experience which locates the evanescence of modern life in the restraining context of an essentially social order.” Future work might wish to explore what connections this view of ontology has with pre-modern traditions (in English see Izutsu 2008).
- 4.
What is particularly interesting here is that Sonoda would later serve as the chair of a major conference on axial civilizations held at Nichibunken in 1998, where he argued in his own paper: “I agree with him [Eisenstadt] in his postulate that Japan is a non-Axial civilization. There is ‘no basic tension’ between the ‘transcendental world’ and ‘mundane world’ in Japan. I believe there was no way to develop an tension, as the two worlds are not clearly demarcated to begin with” (Sonoda 1999, 32). To my knowledge, however, Sonoda never took the next step to develop this into an original theoretical perspective, something I am suggesting in this piece is both possible and pressing.
- 5.
Space does not permit a discussion of the wider reasons for this “stagnation.” For a useful, but concise, discussion of the key issues, see the Gulbenkian Commission’s Report entitled Open the Social Sciences (1996, 54–60).
- 6.
- 7.
For an excellent discussion of how “culture” has been understood in Japan, see Morris-Suzuki (1998, 60–78). Note the same work carries an insightful chapter critical of “civilizations” as an analytical frame (140–160). While I do not agree with many of the points made, it is clearly important for (i) reviewing what prominent Japanese scholars have made of the term “civilization” and (ii) avoiding the pitfalls that attend the approach.
- 8.
For one example, see Rappleye and Komatsu (2016). This paper draws on Japanese philosophers and social theorist to deaxialize linear time, imported from the West during the Meiji era and spread through Japan largely via modern schooling. One of the problems with such work is that it requires readers to have a deep understanding of Western and non-Western sources – a demand that is somewhat impractical without preceding civilizational analysis and postcolonial work to pave the way. Note that “original” in this sentence signifies both prior to and fresh/innovative/novel, i.e., those ideas would be viewed as “new” even though they were already there prior to modernity, in a sense.
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Rappleye, J. (2018). Borrowings, Modernity, and De-axialization: Rethinking the Educational Research Agenda for a Global Age. In: Yonezawa, A., Kitamura, Y., Yamamoto, B., Tokunaga, T. (eds) Japanese Education in a Global Age. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 46. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1528-2_4
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