Abstract
Political conflict poses questions about social cohesion, power, and change that culturalist and materialist theories answer very differently. Comparative sociology requires a method for the integrated and weighted use of their answers. The following case study of environmental politics in Japan develops and illustrates the use of such a method. The types of sanctions used to build influence relations, analyzed through graphs and network matrices, indicate the relative validity of different theories. In this case, a class structure determines the main direction of environmental politics, but cultural legitimations sometimes divert it to other tracks.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 179-202 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | Sociological Forum |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 1 1989 |
Keywords
- Japanese society
- cultural sociology
- political economy
- political sociology
- qualitative methods
- social movements