Labor and Imperial Democracy in Prewar Japan (Twentieth Century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power) (Volume 1) - Softcover

Gordon, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520080912 ISBN 13: 9780520080911

Publisher: University of California Press, 1992

Synopsis

Labor and Imperial Democracy in Prewar Japan examines the political role played by working men and women in prewar Tokyo and offers a reinterpretation of the broader dynamics of Japan's prewar political history. Gordon argues that such phenomena as riots, labor disputes, and union organizing can best be understood as part of an early twentieth-century movement for "imperial democracy" shaped by the nineteenth-century drive to promote capitalism and build a modern nation and empire. When the propertied, educated leaders of this movement gained a share of power in the 1920s, they disagreed on how far to go toward incorporating working men and women into an expanded body politic. For their part, workers became ambivalent toward working within the imperial democratic system. In this context, the intense polarization of laborers and owners during the Depression helped ultimately to destroy the legitimacy of imperial democracy.

Gordon suggests that the thought and behavior of Japanese workers both reflected and furthered the intense concern with popular participation and national power that has marked Japan's modern history. He points to a post-World War II legacy for imperial democracy in both the organization of the working class movement and the popular willingness to see GNP growth as an index of national glory. Importantly, Gordon shows how historians might reconsider the roles of tenant farmers, students, and female activists, for example, in the rise and transformation of imperial democracy.

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Gordon is Associate Professor of History at Duke University and author of The Evolution of Labor Relations in Japan: Heavy Industry, 1853-1955 (1985).

From the Back Cover

"An important study on modern Japanese social history that persuasively articulates quantitative data with well-chosen qualitative texts to tell the story of imperial democracy in Japan. The work shows real intelligence and great originality, and will make its mark on the practice of writing Japanese history."―Harry D. Harootunian, University of Chicago

From the Inside Flap

"An important study on modern Japanese social history that persuasively articulates quantitative data with well-chosen qualitative texts to tell the story of imperial democracy in Japan. The work shows real intelligence and great originality, and will make its mark on the practice of writing Japanese history." Harry D. Harootunian, University of Chicago

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520080912
• ISBN 13: 9780520080911
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384