Abstract
Political conflict poses questions about social cohesion, power, and change that culturalist and materialist theories answer very differently. Comparative sociology requires a method for the integrated and weighted use of their answers. The following case study of environmental politics in Japan develops and illustrates the use of such a method. The types of sanctions used to build influence relations, analyzed through graphs and network matrices, indicate the relative validity of different theories. In this case, a class structure determines the main direction of environmental politics, but cultural legitimations sometimes divert it to other tracks.
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Broadbent, J. Environmental politics in Japan: An integrated structural analysis. Sociol Forum 4, 179–202 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01112420
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01112420