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- Convenor:
-
Curtis Anderson Gayle
(Waseda University)
Send message to Convenor
- Discussant:
-
Adam Bronson
(Durham University)
- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- Intellectual History and Philosophy
- Location:
- Lokaal 0.4
- Sessions:
- Saturday 19 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
Approaches to poverty in Taisho Japan reached into conceptions of class and morality. The panel will show how these two conceptions were linked in various ways and shed new light on the relation between morality and class during this turbulent period of Japanese history.
Long Abstract:
This panel will examine the problem of poverty in the Taisho period through three different perspectives. Even though the issue of poverty was linked to questions of morality, it also reached deep down into conceptions of class on several different levels. Rather than focusing on moral critiques of poverty, this panel will in various ways and through various perspectives reveal some of the specific ways in which discourses and projects aimed at reducing poverty in Taisho Japan involved new and often contradictory conceptions of class and morality. While these concepts were contested, they also intersected with each other—the issue of poverty was by no means limited to any one class or to a specific version of morality. Certain thinkers and movements sought to bring together conceptions of class and morality in ways that not only disturbed the social legitimacy of Japanese capitalism, but also the idea that any one economic system held an unshakable claim to legitimacy during the tempestuous Taisho period.
The first paper introduces Kawakami Hajime’s writings on poverty and argues that while he saw it as an inherent feature of Japanese capitalism, he conceptualized it within a more traditional morality that was compatible with historical materialism. The following paper examines how Kagawa Toyohiko articulated his view of Taisho era poverty within a framework of mutual aid/cooperative enterprises designed to expand the public sphere through a universal notion of morality based on brotherhood. The final paper takes up the Salaryman Union, established in 1919. This union reached out to working class labor unions in the hope of creating a new center of gravity for Japanese capitalism that went beyond traditional class differences. The fact that more traditional labor unions rejected the overtures of the Salaryman Union shows that ideas about morality were often linked to pre-existing conceptions of class by some, just as they were to new conceptions of proper social action and behavior by others.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Saturday 19 August, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
This paper examines Kawakami Hajime's evolving theories of poverty. Kawakami's critique of poverty shifted from a moral-humanist one to a Marxist, historical-materialist version. Although seemingly contradictory, I argue that both are in fact compatible in terms of Kawakami's and Marx's thought.
Paper long abstract:
The early 20th century Japanese economist Kawakami Hajime made it his life goal to reconcile morality and economics. He strongly believed the newly introduced field of study could be put to use to solve pressing moral problems of the day, most notably poverty. His first major attempt to harmonize the two came in his 1917 A Tale of Poverty, a highly syncretic and original work that drew from a broad range of thinkers including Bernard Mandeville, Kumazawa Banzan, and Jesus. But while the very readable A Tale of Poverty won popular acclaim, it was criticized by Japanese Marxists for, among other things, failing to grasp the nature of capitalist exploitation. Kawakami thus returned to the drawing board for his 1930 A Second Tale of Poverty in which he fully adopted the Marxist-materialist line that only by abolishing capitalist social relations could “moral” issues like poverty be truly solved. Indeed, the work seemed to be a refutation of his earlier goal of reconciling morality and economics in general. But on closer inspection, I argue, this is not at all the case. Namely, the main reason for this is that Marx’s materialist framework simply makes reformed class relations its main strategy but does not ultimately preclude the possibility of a transcendent morality. I argue that we can interpret Kawakami’s works on poverty, together and in unity, in a similar vein and see them as a bridge between morality and materialism that is also apparent in Marx’s writings.
Paper short abstract:
This paper shows how Christian socialist Kagawa Toyohiko sought to solve the problem of poverty through the idea of "cooperative solidarity" as a way to bring together the working-class and the middle-class in a new vision of the Taisho era Japanese public sphere.
Paper long abstract:
One of the best-known Christian socialists in modern Japan, Kagawa Toyohiko saw what he called “the profit motive” in Japanese capitalism as the root of poverty and social inequality in the Taisho era. I will show that during this period Kagawa began to advocate for a morality in everyday life that could bring the working class and middle class together through new forms of economic and social engagement such as the cooperative. Influenced by Guild Socialism in the U.K. and thinkers like GDH Cole, Kagawa viewed morality as something that could only be realized through the nitty-gritty of concrete social enterprises, such as the modern cooperative—which he founded and developed in Taisho Japan. This paper will argue that Kagawa had an overall vision of the Japanese public sphere that required a kind of “cooperative solidarity” which brought together the working-class and the middle-class in ways that would transform Japanese capitalism, but not bring it all the way to socialist revolution, per se. This vision of what I call Kagawa’s “cooperative solidarity” was in fact based on moral principles and Christian ideals that would support the creation of a more expansive public sphere. At heart, Kagawa saw class differences that existed in prewar Japan as structural obstacles to the development of a modern morality based on mutual aid and brotherhood. The only way to create a vibrant and inclusive public sphere, he maintained, was through what he referred to as “middle way socialism” to move Japanese society beyond the profit motive, but not directly toward revolutionary socialism, which he saw as violent and excessive. The paper will conclude by arguing that Kagawa advocated a vision of morality that would transform the existence of classes in Japan and thereby eliminate poverty.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will argue that segments of the Japanese middle class were concerned with the problem of poverty and experimented with different notions of class and the idea of seeking a standard solution to the problem of poverty during the 1920s.
Paper long abstract:
Within the rush to modernize and urbanize, 1920s Japan was a time in which various ideas and movements emerged, including the rise of Marxist ideas and the appearance of labor unions and movements. In contrast to research that suggests the middle class were becoming well-off and content with consumption for its own sake, this paper will argue that segments of the middle class were concerned with the problem of poverty and experimented with different notions of class and the idea of seeking a common solution to the problem of poverty. Middle-class culture during this period was developing rapidly, as witnessed in the little-known Salayman Union (SMU), founded in 1919. The SMU sought to create a united front with burgeoning working-class labor unions, and it reached its peak during the mid-1920s in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake. Supported by Socialist Abe Isoo and economist Kawazu Susumu, the SMU sought to unionize the Japanese middle class in Taisho Japan to cope with the problem of alienated labor and the widespread problem of poverty, seeing it as a moral issue that was not the monopoly of any class or group in Taisho era Japanese society. I will investigate the rise of the SMU and why blue-collar workers rejected the overtures of the SMU so that it was not possible for it to gain popular support or extend its influence. By interrogating how the SMU sought to deal with the problem of poverty, my paper will shed light on the factors that kept the Taisho era Japanese labor movement emotionally divided and will examine the distinctive aspects of middle-class consciousness and modernization during the Taisho period in Japan, including the reasons why it was at times difficult to propose and implement new conceptions of social cooperation based on the loosening of class differences.