BOEKE'S VIEW OF EASTERN SOCIETY — With Special Reference to His Critics —

Abstract

Today those who characterize the economy of underdeveloped areas by the coexistence of a modern sector and a pre‐modern sector within one political unit tend to refer to J. H. Boeke as a pioneer exponent in theorizing this dualism. But his dualism differs from the economic dualism of this sort. Again it differs from the so‐called sociological dualism, despite his emphasis on social dualism. By confusing theoretically social dualism with economic dualism, he advocates in effect what is called a socio‐economic approach. Inspite of Boeke's logical inconsistency abundant in his theorizing, what he was virtually claiming in order to find the real cause of economic stagnation in Eastern colonial society was the importance of making searching inquiry into the structural interrelationship between economic factors and social factors.