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Book Cover
Book
Author Avenell, Simon Andrew.

Title Making Japanese citizens : civil society and the mythology of the shimin in postwar Japan / Simon Andrew Avenell
Published Berkeley : University of California Press, [2010]
©2010

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  323.60952 Ave/Mje  AVAILABLE
Description xi, 356 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Contents Before the shimin : the dark energy of the people -- Mass society, anpo, and the birth of the shimin -- Beheiren and the Asian Shimin : the fate of conscientious civic activism -- Residents into citizens : the fate of pragmatic civic activism -- Shimin, new civic movements, and the politics of proposal -- The shimin idea and civil society
Summary "This provocative book provides a historically grounded, densely documented, and analytically shrewd account of the ̀mythology of the citizen' in postwar Japan. Simon Andrew Avenell chronicles a history of co-optation, revealing that the citizen myth was susceptible to ethnic-nationalist sentiment, and later to the appeal of ̀spontaneous' social service that could promote convergence with state and corporate interests. Nevertheless, as Avenell clearly shows, the mythology of the citizen remains attractive and retains its potential as an instrument of critique---for the essential act of negation that is the final protector of any democratic collectivity from supervening authority." --Book Jacket
Making Japanese Citizens is an expansive history of the activists, intellectuals, and movements that played a crucial role in shaping civil society and civic thought in postwar Japan. Weaving his analysis around the concept of shimin (citizen), Simon Andrew Avenell traces the development of a new vision of citizenship based on political participation, self-reliance, popular nationalism, and commitment to daily life. This rich portrayal of activists and their ideas illuminates questions of democracy, citizenship, and political participation not only in contemporary Japan but also, more generally, in other industrialized nations. --
Notes Formerly CIP. Uk
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Citizenship -- Japan.
Civil society -- Japan.
Political activists -- Japan.
SUBJECT Japan -- Politics and government -- 1945- http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85069556
LC no. 2010008308
ISBN 0520262700 (cloth : alk. paper)
0520262719 (paperback: alk. paper)
9780520262706 (cloth : alk. paper)
9780520262713 (paperback: alk. paper)