Organizer and Chair: Patricia Maclachlan, University of Texas, Austin
Discussants: Ulrike Schaede, University of California, San Diego; Frances
M. Rosenbluth, Yale University; Margaret A. McKean, Duke University; Jennifer
Amyx, University of Pennsylvania; Theodore C. Bestor, Harvard University
This roundtable explores the changing role of “culture” in Japanese
political and business studies. As we learned from the “Japan, Inc.” studies
of the 1980s, cultural explanations risk portraying Japan as unique and hence
beyond comparison with other countries. Consequently, many Japan scholars
turned to quantitative methodologies, including rational choice theories, which
by most accounts have won the war against area studies. Cultural analyses, meanwhile,
were relegated to the sidelines of academic inquiry.
For a number of reasons, “culture” appears to be making a comeback
in rigorous social science research. First, our understanding of the meaning
and methodological precision of culture has benefited from notable advances
in psychology and sociology. Second, experience has shown that highly abstract
theories tend to lose relevance over time. After a decade or more of intriguing
model building and quantitative data analysis, it may once again be time for
more theorists to test and refine their models against “real life stories”.
This roundtable challenges presenters and the audience to revisit the role
of culture in Japan Studies. How, if at all, can we conceptualize culture in
our research? Does culture have independent explanatory value? How might culture
be incorporated into the methodologies and research designs of our subfields?
By probing such questions, we hope to spark a long-term debate that draws on
recent findings in social science theory as well as Japan Studies, thereby offering
new insights into the partnership between theory and area studies.
|
