SO 363 - Japanese Society and Culture

This course provides a survey of the main issues in contemporary Japanese culture and society. It focuses on values, institutions, social processes and patterns of social change against on the one hand the background of Japanese history, and, on the other, the ways in which Japan is now facing globalization and having to redefine its place in the world order and in East Asia specifically. The course will expose the student to the main areas of debate in modern Japanese society and will provide a systematic overview of the sociology and anthropology of both rural and urban Japan, of social issues and of processes of social change now at work transforming the society from within and without.