A Cultural, Sociological and Criminological Description of Japanese Society

Abstract

In this chapter I will present a broad cultural and sociological presentation of Japan. Understanding crime is about understanding basic questions concerning cultural values and social structures. My main interest is to find out in which way modern Japan diverges from Western countries struggling with social disintegration. Is Japan differently ‘constituted’ (culturally and sociologically) from most Western countries? This will be further probed with a more criminological related discussion. Sociology (in general) and criminology (in particular) have for a long time suffered from a ‘level problem’ conclusions have too easily been drawn from a general sociological perspective to individual actions like crime. However, one cannot simply make deductions from a dimension like ‘employment situation’ or ‘moral sentiments’ to individual actions, whatever they might be. Poverty is certainly a relevant topic when discussing crime, but most poor people are not criminals. Moral values are likewise important to understand crime patterns, but religiosity has definitely both induced as well as hindered crime through history. After all, crime consists of actions committed by individuals. By saying this I want to stress the importance of making sociological perspectives criminologically relevant and to identify macro processes at the micro level. My intention in this chapter is to establish such a link.