Ikki: Social Conflict and Political Protest in Early Modern Japan

by James W. White

Overview

The reign of the Tokugawa shoguns was a time of statebuilding and cultural transformation, but it was also a period of ikki: peasant rebellion. James W. White reconstructs the pattern of social conflict in early modern Japan, both among common people and between the populace and the government. Ikki is the first book to cover popular protest in all regions of Japan and to encompass nearly three centuries of history, from the beginnings of the Tokugawa shogunate in the 1590s to the Meiji restoration.

White applies contemporary sociological theory to evidence previously unavailable in English. He draws on the long historical record of peasant uprisings, using narrative interpretation and sophisticated quantitative analysis. By linking the texture of conflict to the political and economic regime the shoguns created, he casts doubt on competing interpretations of a contained, orderly society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501704581
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	03/24/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	7 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

James W. White is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of The Sokagakkai and Mass Society.

Table of Contents

Part I The Context of Contention1. The Political Context2. The Economic Context3. The Social and Demographic Context4. The Ideological and Philosophical ContextPart II The Texture and Content of Contention5. Frequency and Magnitude6. Repertoires7. Process and Cycle8. Protagonists and Antagonists9. Twilight of the IkkiPart III The Correlates and Causes of Contention10. Correlation and Causation11. A Multivariate Analysis12. The Inception of ConflictPart IV Consequences and Conclusions13. Implications and Interpretations14. Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

White's book shows how quantitative social science methods can be creatively married to in-depth historical knowledge of a particular country.

American Political Science Review

Ikki is ambitious, comprehensive, rigorous, and sophisticated in its conclusions. It is an accessible and wide-ranging book that should be of broad interest to political scientists and other social scientists interested in the comparative study of popular contention.

Review of Politics

Ikki is ambitious, comprehensive, rigorous, and sophisticated in its conclusions. It is an accessible and wide-ranging book that should be of broad interest to political scientists and other social scientists interested in the comparative study of popular contention.

-- "Review of Politics"

White's book shows how quantitative social science methods can be creatively married to in-depth historical knowledge of a particular country.

-- "American Political Science Review"

From the Publisher