Order By Accident : The Origins And Consequences Of Group Conformity In Contemporary Japan

While the consequences of low social order are well understood, the consequences of high social order are not. Yet perhaps nowhere in the world is social order so well developed as in Japan, which is highly organized, economically successful, and enjoys a safe society. However, Japan pays a price--the loss of personal freedom, and the inability to exploit its citizens’ talents.In __Order by Accident__, Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa discuss the consequences of high social order in Japan. They integrate a wide range of scholarship on Japan, ranging from studies by criminologists, to religious studies, to the most current social psychological studies. The results are sometimes startling and counterintuitive, since the same theory of social order explains equally well why Japan has an orderly society with low street crimes, but is plagued with problems such as white collar crime. Part 1. Theoretical Orientation -- 1. Social Order And Social Control: An Introduction -- Ironies Of Social Structure -- Social Order -- Informal Social Control -- 2. The Solidaristic Theory Of Social Order -- How Social Order Emerges As An Unintended Consequence Of Group Solidarity -- How Groups Produce Solidarity -- Part 2. Social Institutions -- 3. The Education System: Social Initiation -- Dependence And Normative Obligations -- Visibility, Monitoring, And Sanctioning -- 4. Work: A Continuation -- Dependence And Normative Obligations -- Visibility, Monitoring, And Sanctioning -- 5. The Family -- Division Of Labor -- Family Patterns -- Relationship To Social Control -- 6. Crime -- Theories Of Crime -- The Japanese Social Structure And Its Relationship To Crime -- Part 3. Nonintuitive Consequences -- 7. Crime Revisited: White-collar Crimes -- Refining Our Concept Of White-collar Crime -- Companies As Subcultures -- Examples Of White-collar Crime In Japan -- 8. The Religious Landscape Of Japan -- Religion In Japan -- The Japanese Social Structure And Its Impact On Religion -- Empirical Support -- 9. Trust -- Are Japanese Group-oriented? -- Generalized Trust -- Redefining A Culture Of Collectivism -- Part 4. Speculations And Conclusions -- 10. The Emergence Of Cooperative Social Institutions -- What Are Cooperative Social Institutions? -- How Do Cooperative Social Institutions Emerge? -- How Did The Unique Cooperative Institutions Emerge Only In Japan? -- 11. Conclusion. Alan S. Miller, Satoshi Kanazawa. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 139-149) And Index. In Order by Accident, Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa explore how social order is produced and maintained in Japan, and they discuss the positive and negative consequences of this high social order. The authors integrate a wide range of scholarship on Japan, ranging from studies by criminologists, to religious studies, to the most current social psychological studies. For many Westerners, Japanese society has often provided an interesting area of study.