Society and Religion in Non-Western Societies

Reconciling the societal differences between the Western world and Asia--particularly with respect to China, Korea, and Japan--may never be a possibility. The divide is not so simple as the distinctions between mere Christianity, Confucianism, or communism, nor is it reducible to simple philosophical terms such as capitalism, liberalism, or Marxism. Indeed, the inherent dissimilarities between Eastern and Western cultures are as likely the result of the forced separation due to geography and the consequence of limited contact over the millennia.

As Rozman insists, the failure of social science to investigate national heritage as the fulcrum of societal differences, particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, belittles "the enduring consequences of historical factors." Further, (Western) political scientists and social scientists find separate explanations for the varying inclinations of Eastern societies toward dictatorial or democratic regimes, socialist or capitalist development. And none of them may satisfactorily explain how heritage influences and shapes the "unusual dynamism" which propels Eastern societies:

The way people interact at home, school, and their workplace, the way they view their government and their own society's place in the world, affects their rate of modernization. Even if, for a time, the foreign impact seems to be displacing more and more of the traditional behavior, a process of interaction is at work in which some element

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apan have interacted to form a distinctive national heritage." In this regard, Japanese religious culture may be viewed as a syncretism of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Shinto--individuals have integrated different aspects of several traditions into a "total philosophy of life." Collcutt maintains, however, "Probably very few Japanese would attribute their recent economic success to Confucianism; they would more likely disavow any significant role for Confucianism in modern Japan." Yet, the recent, modest revival of interest in Confucianism may stem, in part, from a belief that the regional economic growth in East Asia may be related to a common Confucian heritage. Nevertheless, virtually no one in Japan would consider himself a Confucianist today. Similarly, Davis suggests that recent versions of Weber's theory of inevitable decline "treat religion as part of a syndrome of social, economic, political and psychological changes which, collectively, make up 'the modernization process.'" Davis views the secularization of Japanese religion as part of this modernization process/decline, although he takes the position that such decline is neither inevitable nor impossible, and is, therefore, reversible. Davis cites the

Category: Philosophy - S