Some implications of japanese social structure

Abstract

Any analysis of the social structure of modern Japan is faced at the outset by an historical fact which is of great significance. Japan, in a period of approxi mately seventy years, changed from a society somewhat analogous to western feudalism, to a society characterized by a highly developed modern industry. The nearest approach in the Occident to such a cultural history has been that of Germany.2 This factor has had a great deal to do with the peculiar nature of the social developments in these two nations. The case of Japan is somewhat more striking since fewer of the usual interstitial stages were present here than in the German case and since the change has been somewhat more rapid. One of the most striking features of the Japanese social system seems to have been that the changes in control of the social system which accompanied the change from feudalism to industrialization were changes in the balance of power within the already existing class groups rather than, as in the West, a shift of control between classes. The transition of Japan from feudalism to modern industrialism has not been accompanied by the rise to power of any new class. The merchant and the entrepreneurial functions which brought a new group to the fore in the industrialization of Western Europe have been taken over in Japan by already existing groups. As J. P. Reed points out in his book, Kokutai, the social disorganization to be expected in so radical a social change as that from feudalism to modern industrialism has been notable for its absence in Japan and that, compared to the growth in national unity, discourag ing effects have been few. Roughly speaking, six social classes may be distinguished in modern Japan. In order of their level in the social stratification of Japan, these groups are as follows: I. The Imperial Family, II. Nobility, III. Upper Middle Class, IV. Lower Middle Class, V. Industrial Proletariat, and VI. Peasants. In addition, there is a rapidly diminishing outcast group (there are only some 300,000 remaining), the