Are Asian Sociologies Possible?:Universalism and Particularism

Yoshimichi Sato

Graduate School of Arts and LettersTohoku University

The 21sde Century Human Value ForumAndong Culture & Art Center

May 29-31, 2015

Motivation behind Presentation

• Gap b/w universal concepts and local “reality”

Family

Ie

1. Family2. Home3. Complex of family, productive organization, and cultural entity for ancestor worship

Social capitalEn and Aidagara

Guanxi

Social Relations in Japan and China

• Japan– Dense social networks of workers in

a company– Long-term relations between a large

company and its subcontractors– aidagara and en

• China– Social networks for getting a job,

getting promoted, and doing business

– guanxi

Company retreat to South Korea

Guānxi: Chinese Business Culture Simulation

Research Question

• Why did not aidagara, en, and guanxi, instead of social capital, become universal sociological concepts to express social relations?– Supply side question: Why did not Asian

sociologists elaborate their local concepts as universal sociological concepts?

– Demand side question: Why did not Western sociologists accept the Asian-born concepts?

En and Aidagara in Japanese Society

• Everyday usage of the words– En is thought to be a momentum that makes

two persons encounter.– Aidagara means social relations in Japanese– “We get to know each other due to some en,

so why don’t we keep a good relationship?”

Hamaguchi’s (1985) Elaboration

• Methodological individualism cannot properly explain the Japanese way of action, and networking in particular.– Japanese do not distinguish their existence

and their social ties with other people. Their existence is embedded in the context around them.

Hamaguchi’s (1985) Elaboration

• Methodological contextualism– Contextuals as the building blocks– Aidagara: Social relations b/w contextuals

• Deeper meaning than social relations in methodological individualism

– En: Momentum materializing aidagara– “Our encounter must be caused by some en, so why

don’t we keep our relation forever?”

Hamaguchi (1985: 306, Figure 2)

A B C D

Interaction b/w Individuals Interaction b/w Contextuals

Guanxi in Chinese Society

• Guanxi: Word for social relations in Chinese– Deeper meaning than social relations in

methodological individualism– Thought to be peculiar to the Chinese society

during and following the Cultural Revolution

Lin’s (2001b) Elaboration

• Basically, an instrumental relation• Enduring based on sentiments• Asymmetric

A B

• Guanxi exists in other societies than China and at other time periods than the Cultural Revolution.

Announcement in public

Research Questions, Revisited

• Supply-side question: Why did not sociologists in Japan and China elaborate the concepts of aidagara, en, and guanxi and invent general sociological concepts on social relations based on them?– Hamaguchi (1985) and Lin (2001b) are exceptions.

• Demand-side question: Why did not Western scholars accept aidagara, en, and guanxi as general concepts on social relations?– Hamaguchi and Lin made every effort to persuade

readers that the concepts are general and not peculiar to Japan and China.

Supply-side Answer

• Ambivalent Status of Asian Sociologists– Western-born concepts and theories

vs. Local social phenomena

• Modify the concepts and theories• Add new assumptions• Create new concepts and theories

– Asian sociologist would choose the first or second solutions.

Demand-side Answer

• What if Asian sociologists choose the third solution like Hamaguchi and Lin?

• Western sociologists would find it difficult to accept Asian-born concepts because they are thick concepts.

Thin Concept vs. Thick Concept

• Thick concept: Loaded with meanings related to local history and culture– aidagara, en, guanxi– e.g., “guanxi carries a much ‘deeper’ meaning and

significance than the simple English translations of ‘relations’ or ‘connections’ would indicate.” (Lin, 2001b: 153)

• Thin concept: Not loaded with meanings related to local history and culture– social capital– e.g., “…social capital may be defined operationally as

the resource embedded in social networks accessed and used by actors for actions.” (Lin, 2001a)

Advantages of Social Capital

• Thin concept– Thin concepts spread faster among

sociologists than thick concepts.– Lighter cognitive burdens on their receivers

• Social Capital– Capital is a concept familiar to sociologists.– Actors involved are implicitly assumed to be

independent agents with freedom to manipulate social relations.

From Particularism to Universalism and back to Particularism

Universal Concept X

Aidagara and En Guanxi Social capital

12 2 2

Caveat: Temptation to emphasize the uniqueness of Asian societies