Sociology 306: The East Asian Region and Modernization

Sociology 306: The East Asian Region and Modernization

Fall 1995

Instructor: Gilbert Rozman

This course focuses on East Asia as a region. It examines the social causes and consequences of the remarkable dynamism of this region in recent decades. Important dimensions of the course are: (1) a comparative approach to China and Japan as the p rincipal societies in the region; (2) student selection of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Singapore as a third case for comparisons; (3) a long-term historical perspective on the sources of dynamism, especially during the Qing, Tokugawa, and Yi period s; (4) a multi-level approach to sociological factors; (5) a future-oriented analysis of regional images, cross-national relations, and steps toward regionalism; and (6) a Chinese language-specific precept. Flexibility is built into the course although t here is also a substantial common core.

Conventionally we can divide social science studies of regionalism into four orientations. This course will not duplicate the primary interests of courses on (1) politics and international relations; (2) economics and trade relations; and (3) intell ectual history and the diffusion of ideas. All of these themes will arise, but none will become a subject of direct concentration. (4) The sociological orientation of the course will be visible in the study of social groups, social problems, and social n etworks crossing national boundaries. Instead of focusing on leadership and the political system, interest will center on the role of the state in the society. Regionalism and bilateral relations will be approached partly through informal associations and questions of national identity. Treatment of economic competitiveness will emphasize workplace social relations and human resources. Also the comparative study of Confucian values will not consider their intellectual origins, but will stress their a pplication in group settings. This course will concentrate on the causes and consequences of economic development as seen in social organization and attitudes. It will be concerned with the intersections of sociology, on the one hand, and politics, inter national relations, history, anthropology, and economics, on the other.

Outside of class there will be opportunities to deepen your understanding of course themes. Lectures and consultations will be arranged with experts on such topics as honor and trust in East Asian history, modernization theory and East Asia, Japanese views of Asia, Chinese policy toward the Northeast Asian region, and current American policy towards the East Asian region.

Lecture Schedule

1. Introduction

2. The Historical Roots of East Asian Modernization

"The Japanese Model and the Chinese Model Compared"

3. The Microlevel

4. The Community Level

  • November 7 "Equality, Hierarchy and the Workplace"
  • November 9 "In-Groups and Out-Groups"
  • November 14 "Social Networks" November 16 "The Community Model and Modernization"

    5. The Macrolevel

    6. The Regional Perspective

    Requirements

    1. Three precept papers: 1 on the historical roots, 1 on the microlevel or the community level, and 1 on the macrolevel or the regional perspective.

      Each paper: 3-4 pages; may draw largely on course readings; 1 of the 3 must include a third Asian case; the first two papers must be systematically comparative and the third must include comparisons of the views or identities of separate countries.

    2. Two quizzes: 1 on October 26 in class, 1 to be signed out on December 12-15 and returned after 1 hour; each quiz asks you to identify and discuss the signicance of six themes in a period of fifty minutes

    3. Final research paper: 10-12 pages; due on dean's date, to be a systematic 3-area comparison, topic to be approved and discussed in late November or early December in individual meetings with the instructor.

      READINGS

      PRECEPT 1

      • Gilbert Rozman, ed., The East Asian Region: Confucian Heritage and Its Modern Adaptation (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991): "Introduction," pp. 3-42.
      • Christopher Lingle, "The Propaganda Way," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 74, No. 3 (1995), pp. 193-96.
      • Chalmers Johnson, Japan Who Governs? The Rise of the Developmental State (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1995): Ch. 2, "Social Values and the Theory of Late Economic Development in East Asia," pp. 38-50; Ch. 3, "Comparative Capitalism: The Japanese Difference," pp. 51-68.
      • Susumu Yabuki, China's New Political Economy: The Giant Awakes (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995): Ch. 1, "Fifteen years of Reform after Thirty Years of Utopian Socialism," pp. 1-5; Ch. 22, "Chronology: Evolution of the Reform and Liberalization Policy (1978-1993)," pp. 243-61.
      • Edward Friedman, National Identity and Democratic Prospects in Socialist China (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1995): Ch. 6, "Reconstructing China's National Identity," (section on "The Rise of a Southern-Oriented National Identity"), pp. 100-110; Ch. 9, "Confucian Leninism and Patriarchal Authoritarianism," pp. 149-53; Ch. 10, "Is China a Model of Reform Success?," pp. 188-207.

      PRECEPT 2

      • Ezra Vogel, Japan as Number One: Lessons for America (New York: Harper & Row,1979), pp. 27-49, 70-73, 98-107, 186-201.
      • Ezra Vogel, The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991), pp. 1-112 (choose one country on which to concentrate; read about the others)
      • Ezra Vogel, One Step Ahead in China: Guangdong Under Reform (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989), pp. 125-53, 161-81, 192-95, 313-37, 413-49

      PRECEPT 3

      • Gilbert Rozman, ed., The East Asian Region: Confucian Heritage and Its Modern Adaptation: Patricia Ebrey, "The Chinese Family and the Spread of Confucian Values," pp. 45-83; JaHyun Kim Haboush, "The Confucianization of Korean Society," pp. 84-110; Martin Collcutt, "The Legacy of Confucianism in Japan," pp. 111-54; Gilbert Rozman, "Comparisons of Modern Confucian Values in China and Japan," pp. 157-203.

        RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND: Mark Borthwick, Pacific Century: The Emergence of Modern Pacific Asia (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992).

      PRECEPT 4

      • Eiko Ikegami, The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995), pp. 15-43, 177-93, 299-325.
      • Lowell Dittmer and Samuel S. Kim, eds., China's Quest for National Identity (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993): Michael Ng-Quinn, "National Identity in Premodern China," pp. 32-61; Michael H. Hunt, "Chinese National Identity and the Strong State: The Late Qing- Republican Crisis," pp. 62-79.

        RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND: C.E. Black, et.al., eds., The Modernization of Japan and Russia (New York: The Free Press, 1975); Gilbert Rozman, ed., The Modernization of China (New York: The Free Press, 1981).

      PRECEPT 5

      • S.G. Redding, "The Role of the Entrepreneur in the New Asian Capitalism," in Peter L. Berger and Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, eds.,cite> In Search of An East Asian Development Model, (New Brunswick: Transactions, 1988), Ch. 5, pp. 99-111.
      • Gilbert Rozman, "The Confucian Faces of Capitalism," in Mark Borthwick, ed., Pacific Century, pp. 310-318, and "The 'Overseas' Ethnic Chinese," pp. 319-321.
      • Susumu Yabuki, China's New Political Economy: The Giant Awakes; Ch. 2, "The Population Explosion: An Intractable Problem," pp. 7-16.
      • Robert Benewick and Paul Wingrove, eds., China in the 1990s (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1995): Shirin M. Rai, "Gender in China," pp. 181-92; Penny Kane, "Population and Family Policies," pp. 193-203; Elisabeth J. Croll, "Family Strategies: Securing the Future," pp. 204-215.
      • Kozo Yamamura and Yasukichi Yasuba, eds., The Political Economy of Japan, Vol. 1: The Domestic Transformation (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987): Hugh T. Patrick and Thomas P. Rohlen, "Small-Scale Family Enterprises," pp. 331-84

      PRECEPT 6

      • Mayfair Mei-hui Yang, Gifts, Favors & Banquets: The Art of Social Relationships in China (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994): Ch. 1, "Guanxi Dialects and Vocabulary," pp. 49-74; Ch. 2, "The Scope and Use Contexts of Guanxi," pp. 75-108; Ch. 3, "The 'Art' in Guanxixue: Ethics, Tactics, and Etiquette," pp. 109-45; Ch. 4, "On the Recent Past of Guanxixue: Traditional Forms and Historical (Re-)Emergence," pp. 146-72.
      • S.N. Eisenstadt, Japanese Models of Conflict Resolution (London: Kegon Paul International, 1990): Ch. 2, S.N. Eisenstadt, "Patterns of Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Japan: Some Comparative Implications," pp. 12-35; Ch. 6, B. Shillony, "Victors Without Vanquished: A Japanese Model of Conflict Resolution," pp. 127-37; Ch. 8, H. Befu, "Conflict and Non-Weberian Bureaucracy in Japan," pp. 162-91; Ch. 10, H. Befu, "Four Models of Japanese Society and their Relevance to Conflict," pp. 213-38.

        RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND: Yanje Bian, "Guanxi and the Allocation of Urban Jobs in China," The China Quarterly, No. 140 (December 1994), pp. 971-99.

      PRECEPT 7

      • Kristen Parris, "Local Initiative and National Reform: The Wenzhou Model of Development," The China Quarterly, No. 134 (June 1993), pp. 242-63.
      • Susumu Yabuki, China's New Political Economy: The Giant Awakes: Ch. 5, "The Irreversible Transformation from a Planned to a Market Economy," pp. 41-45; Ch. 6, "Economic Momentum Shifts to the Nonstate Sector," pp. 47-60; Ch. 7, "Wage Reform and the Rise of China's Power Elite," pp. 61-80; Ch. 8, "National and Per Capita Income," pp. 81-89; Ch. 9, "The Never-Ending Struggle to Feed 1.2 Billion People," pp. 91-97; Ch. 10, "The New Focus on Tertiary Industry," pp. 99-109; Ch. 12, "Inflation: Threat to Reform and Social Stability," pp. 123-36; Ch. 14, "Warnings of an Ecological Crisis," pp. 145-51; Ch. 17, "Opening the Coastal Region: Achievements and Regional Disparities," pp. 177-89; Ch. 18, "The Surge in Regional Liberalization," pp. 191-208.
      • Ezra Vogel, Japan as Number 1: Lessons for America: Ch. 6, "The Large Company: Identification and Performance," pp. 131-57.

      PRECEPT 8

      • Heath B. Chamberlain, "On the Search for Civil Society in China," Modern China, vol. 19, no. 2 (April 1993), pp. 199-215.
      • The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, No. 33 (January 1995): Richard Levy, "Corruption, Economic Crime and Social Transformation Since the Reforms: The Debate in China," pp. 1-25; David Wank, "Private Business, Bureaucracy, and Political Alliance in a Chinese City," pp. 55-71.
      • Johnson, Chalmers, Japan: Who Governs?: Ch. 5, "The Foundations of Japan's Wealth and Power and Why They Baffle the United States," pp. 96-112; Ch. 6, "Japan: Who Governs? An Essay on Official Bureaucracy," pp. 115-40; Ch. 7, "The Reemployment of Retired Government Bureaucrats in Japanese Big Business," pp. 141-56.
      • Ulrike Schaede, "The 'Old Boy' Network and Government-Business Relationships in Japan," Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Summer 1995), pp. 293-317.

      PRECEPT 9

      • Robert Wade, "East Asia's Economic Success: Conflicting Perspectives, Partial Insights, Shaky Evidence," World Politics, no. 44. (January 1992), pp. 270-320
      • Jonathan Unger and Anita Chan, "China, Corporatism, and the East Asian Model," The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, No. 33 . (January 1995), pp. 29-53
      • Eric Wu and Yun-han Chu, eds., The Predicament of Modernization in East Asia (Taipei: National Cultural Association, 1995): Gilbert Rozman, "East Asian Modernization and the Japanese Experience," pp. 111-26. Supplement with reading to reflect your own area choice.

      PRECEPT 10

      • David Shambaugh, ed., Greater China (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995): David Shambaugh, "Introduction: The Emergence of 'Greater China',", pp. 1-7; Harry Harding, "The Concept of 'Greater China': Themes, Variations, and Reservations," pp. 8-34; Michael Yahuda, "The Foreign Relations of Greater China," pp. 35-58; Hugh Baker, "Social Change in Hong Kong: Hong Kong Man in Search of Majority," pp. 212-25; Thomas B. Gold, "Go With Your Feelings: Hong Kong and Taiwan Popular Culture in Greater China," pp. 255-73; Wang Gungwu, "Greater China and the Chinese Overseas," pp. 274-96.

      Supplement with reading to reflect your own area choice.

      PRECEPT 11

      • Michael Mandelbaum, ed., The Strategic Quadrangle: Russian, China, Japan, and the United States in East Asia (New York: The Council on Foreign Relations, 1995): Ch. 1, Robert Legvold, "Russia and the Strategic Quadrangle," pp. 16-62; Ch. 2, David M. Lampton, "China and the Strategic Triangle," pp. 63-106; Ch. 3, Mike M. Mochizuki, "Japan and the Strategic Quadrangle," pp. 107-53; Ch. 5, Richard H. Solomon, "Who Will Shape the Emerging Structure of East Asia," pp. 196-208.

      Readings in Chinese for Language-Specific Precept

      • Zheng Yongnian and Wu Guoguang, "Lun zhongyang-difang guanxi: 'fazhenxing difangzhuyi' de xingqi," Dangdai Zhongguo Yanjiu, 1994: 6, pp. 16-25.

      • Luo Rongqu, "Shenru taolun Dongya xiandaihua jingchengzhong de xin jingyan," Zhongguo shehui kexue baokan (Spring 1995), pp. 166-81.

      • Luo Rongqu, "Zouxiang xiandaihua de Zhongguo daolu--yu Riben xiandaihua daolu de bijiao," (Matsusaka University, conference of June 1995), pp. 1-7.

      blanche@pucc.princeton.edu September 1995