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Technology and the Culture of Progress in Meiji Japan

Technology and the Culture of Progress in Meiji Japan

Paperback

Series: Routledge/Asian Studies Association of Australia (Asaa) East

Business GeneralGeneral SociologyJapanese History

ISBN10: 0415560616
ISBN13: 9780415560610
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Jul 24 2009
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.70
Height: 0.47 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

In this book David Wittner situates Japan's Meiji Era experience of technology transfer and industrial modernization within the realm of culture, politics, and symbolism, examining how nineteenth century beliefs in civilization and enlightenment influenced the process of technological choice.

Through case studies of the iron and silk industries, Wittner argues that the Meiji government's guiding principle was not simply economic development or providing a technical model for private industry as is commonly claimed. Choice of technique was based on the ability of a technological artifact to import Western civilization to Japan: Meiji officials' technological choices were firmly situated within perceptions of authority, modernity, and their varying political agendas. Technological artifacts could also be used as instruments of political legitimization. By late the Meiji Era, the former icons of Western civilization had been transformed into the symbols of Japanese industrial and military might.

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Japanese History