Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
6-2011
Abstract
The education system has been a quintessential state apparatus of nation-building since the emergence of the modern nation-state; however, recent comparative studies demonstrate the growing presence of cosmopolitanism in education policies and school curricula around the world. This trend indicates that the education system now operates according to two different institutional logics, nationalism and cosmopolitanism. To understand how the education system negotiates the potential contradiction between nationalism and cosmopolitanism, in this paper, I analyze the case of postwar Japanese education. Theoretically, I synthesize studies of institutional logics and social movements: while the former shed light on a contradiction between different institutional logics as a source of political contestation, the latter help to explain how political actors select solutions to the contradiction. Empirically, I show how a series of education reforms modified the original solution that had prioritized cosmopolitanism over nationalism, culminating in the new Fundamental Law of Education that redefined the two institutional logics as symbiotic. My analysis thus suggests that the Japanese education system is evolving into a state apparatus of cosmopolitan nation-building in an increasingly global world.
Keywords
Cosmopolitanism; Education, Globalization, Institutional change, Nationalism, Politics
Discipline
Asian Studies | Education | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Sociology
Research Areas
Sociology
Publication
Social Science Japan Journal
Volume
14
Issue
2
First Page
125
Last Page
144
ISSN
1369-1465
Identifier
10.1093/ssjj/jyq060
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP): Policy F - Oxford Open Option D
Citation
SAITO, Hiro.(2011). Cosmopolitan Nation-Building: The Institutional Contradiction and Politics of Postwar Japanese Education. Social Science Japan Journal, 14(2), 125-144.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1889
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyq060
Included in
Asian Studies Commons, Education Commons, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, Sociology Commons