THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

University Homepage
DRPS Homepage
DRPS Search
DRPS Contact
DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : Asian Studies

Postgraduate Course: The Development of Social and Political Thought in Modern Japan (ASST11072)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course offers an overview of political and social thought in Japan from the mid-19th century to the present through the investigation of major controversies and intellectual tendencies in the Japanese discourse on political, domestic as well as international and social order. The progression of the course is along the historical timeline, but ample attention will be paid to continuities that connect prewar, postwar and the present times, as well as the fault lines that make the phases of progression unique. Where opportune, comparison will be made with similar developments and linkages that embed Japan in a transcultural context of social and political thought at the time.
Course description 1 Studying Japanese social and political thought: methodological reflections
2 Globalisation and the adoption of a new 'Standard of Civilisation'
3 Political protest and social mobility in Early Meiji Japan
4 Meiji conservatism and the creation of the emperor state
5 The Taisho Democracy from a world-historical perspective
6 Gender roles, realities and gender politics in pre-war Japan
7 The ideological foundations of Japanese expansion and preparation for 'total war'
8 Embracing defeat and the postwar order; the Anpo controversy
9 Left terrorism and the resurgence of cultural nationalism
10 'The third opening': Social and Political thought in post-Cold War Japan
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Students who have completed this course successfully will have:
    - Acquired an overview of the major developments of political and social thought in modern Japan since the mid-nineteenth century until the presence.
    - Developed an understanding of the principal actors and participants in this discourse and the institutional conditions and limitations of public discourse in modern Japan.
    - Become familiar with fundamental motifs in the political and social discourse of pre-war, postwar and present-day Japan.
    - Gained insight into the embeddedness of this discourse in an intercultural and world historical context.
  2. Students who have completed this course successfully will be able to:
    - Discuss continuing motifs and major changes in the Japanese political and social discourse
    - Critically assess sources and documents related to this discourse, in its present-day manifestation as well as in its historical dimension.
    - Present detailed, evidenced based arguments both in oral and written form
    - Quickly locate, utilise and critique relevant literature
    - Use knowledge acquired from the course to appraise news media and popular discourses on Japanese society and politics.
Reading List
Gluck, C., 1985, Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Wakabayashi, B.T., ed., 1998, Modern Japanese Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gordon, A., ed., 1993, Postwar Japan as History. Berkeley: University of California Press.
McCormack, G, and Sugimoto, Y., eds., 1988, The Japanese Trajectory: Modernization and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Special Arrangements Jointly taught with undergraduate students [ASST10119]
KeywordsDSPTM
Contacts
Course organiserProf Urs Matthias Zachmann
Tel:
Email: U.Zachmann@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMr Alan Binnie
Tel: (0131 6)51 1822
Email: Alan.Binnie@ed.ac.uk
Navigation
Help & Information
Home
Introduction
Glossary
Search DPTs and Courses
Regulations
Regulations
Degree Programmes
Introduction
Browse DPTs
Courses
Introduction
Humanities and Social Science
Science and Engineering
Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Other Information
Combined Course Timetable
Prospectuses
Important Information