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(★)(The Japanese way of work is notoriously ´different´. But is it Japan or Britain which is the odd man out? This is the first book to explore the real differences, not by contrasting Japanese employment relations with a hazy ideal image of ´the West´, but through a point-by-point comparison of two Japanese factories with two British ones making similar products. ／In the first half of the book this comparison is pursued in systematic detail and with vivid illustration of the attitudes and assumptions which underlie what the author calls the ´market-oriented´ system of Britain and the ´organization-oriented´ system of Japan. But these descriptions are only the beginning of a broader analysis. One chapter shows how the employment institutions of the two countries fit into their political, family and educational institutions --an exercise in functionalist sociology without the functionalist´s usual claim to be so different-- dominates the later chapters and these make a major contribution to the discussion of development and of the ´convergence´ of different systems. ／Are the Japanese being weaned from their ´pre-modern´ practices and becoming more like us? On the contrary, Professor Dore finds more signs of our moving in a Japanese direction. The convergence theorists are wrong in taking the market-oriented employment systems created by the peculiarities of nineteenth-century capitalism as necessarily a permanent part of ´modern´ industrial relations. ／This brings the author to the ´late-development´ effect. From a wealth of historical evidence, he argues that Japan´s organization-oriented system is not simply a manifestation on Japan´s unique culture, nor a hang-over from pre-industrial relations. Late-developers can ´get ahead´, adopting patterns of organization which in older industrial countries are still struggling to break through the crust of nineteenth-century institutions. He supports his thesis with evidence from Asia, Africa and Latin America. If accepted, its importance for policy in these regions is obvious. ／This book will appeal to those concerned with the state of British industrial and employment relations ; to all interested in the ´Japanese miracle´, and to readers concerned with developing countries. To sociologists it offers a significant contribution to contemporary debates on convergence and development, as well as an able example of applied comparative sociology. It is the work of a man who combines the skills of the economist with those of the sociologist and who has devoted a quarter of a century to the study of Japan. The book breathes the author´s direct, first-hand experience of both English and Japanese work places --this is not the observation of a man who has had to work through interpreters or who comes to his task unfamiliar with the social background. The result is a book whose like we shall not see again. ◆Professor Dore is at present a Fellow of the Institute of Development of the University of Sussex. He is author of ´City Life in Japan´,´Land Reform in Japan´ and ´Education in Tokugawa Japan´. He was previously a Professor at the London School of Economics. ▼CONTENTS／ ●PART ONE : THE FACTORIES／ 1.Four Factories : a First Look／ 2.The Workers : Who They Are, How They Are Recruited and Trained／ 3.Wages／ 4.Unions : Membership and Organization／ 5.Industrial Relations : Mainly England／ 6.Industrial Relations : Mainly Japan／ 7.Industrial Relations : a Summary／ 8.The Enterprise as Community／ 9.Authority, Function and Status／ 10.Two Employment Systems／ 11.Some Implications／ ●PART TWO : CONVERGENCE?／ 12.The ´Japanese Employment System´ and Recent Trends of Change／ 13.Britain Catching Up?／ ●PART THREE : THE PAST AND THE FUTURE／ 14.The Origins of the Japanese Employment System／ 15.Late Development／) |
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