Cross Culture Management
•
•
•
•
•
• inShare13
•
•
•
Cross-Cultural Materialism: Commodifying Culture in Japan
Mary Yoko Brannen, School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan
[ to cite ]:
Mary Yoko Brannen (1992) ,"Cross-Cultural Materialism: Commodifying Culture in Japan", in SV - Meaning, Measure, and Morality of Materialism, eds. Floyd W. Rudmin and Marsha Richins, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 167-180.
[pic]
Meaning, Measure, and Morality of Materialism, 1992 Pages 167-180
CROSS-CULTURAL MATERIALISM: COMMODIFYING CULTURE IN JAPAN
Mary Yoko Brannen, School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan
[I am indebted to Richard Burt for a number of critical comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this essay. I would also like to thank Stephen Smith, Linda Lewis, Katsu Yamaguchi, Shu Ogawa, Robert Murray, James Wilson and Joe Tobin for their insights.] [Significant portions of this paper are published in 'Bwana Mickey: Constructing Cultural Consumption at Tokyo Disneyland, ' in Remade in Japan: Domestic Life and Consumer Tastes in a Changing Japan, ' added by Joseph Tobin, Yale University Press, July 1992. Used with permission.]
For the past couple of decades the world has been overwhelmed with reports on portentous Japanese productivity. This paper in contrast, is about conspicuous Japanese consumption. As much as it is true that Japanese students study hard and Japanese workers work hard, it is equally true that Japanese consumers consume hard. Profits generated by the exported end-results of such high productivity eventually result in increased buying power which in turn stimulates domestic Japanese consumption. The flip side of Japan 's 1970 's role as the world 's preeminent producer nation is its 1990 's role as the world 's leading consumer nation. Much of what the Japanese consume - the tangible goods as well as the leisure activities which make up Japan 's material world-is western in
•
•
•
•
• inShare13
•
•
•
Cross-Cultural Materialism: Commodifying Culture in Japan
Mary Yoko Brannen, School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan
[ to cite ]:
Mary Yoko Brannen (1992) ,"Cross-Cultural Materialism: Commodifying Culture in Japan", in SV - Meaning, Measure, and Morality of Materialism, eds. Floyd W. Rudmin and Marsha Richins, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 167-180.
[pic]
Meaning, Measure, and Morality of Materialism, 1992 Pages 167-180
CROSS-CULTURAL MATERIALISM: COMMODIFYING CULTURE IN JAPAN
Mary Yoko Brannen, School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan
[I am indebted to Richard Burt for a number of critical comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this essay. I would also like to thank Stephen Smith, Linda Lewis, Katsu Yamaguchi, Shu Ogawa, Robert Murray, James Wilson and Joe Tobin for their insights.] [Significant portions of this paper are published in 'Bwana Mickey: Constructing Cultural Consumption at Tokyo Disneyland, ' in Remade in Japan: Domestic Life and Consumer Tastes in a Changing Japan, ' added by Joseph Tobin, Yale University Press, July 1992. Used with permission.]
For the past couple of decades the world has been overwhelmed with reports on portentous Japanese productivity. This paper in contrast, is about conspicuous Japanese consumption. As much as it is true that Japanese students study hard and Japanese workers work hard, it is equally true that Japanese consumers consume hard. Profits generated by the exported end-results of such high productivity eventually result in increased buying power which in turn stimulates domestic Japanese consumption. The flip side of Japan 's 1970 's role as the world 's preeminent producer nation is its 1990 's role as the world 's leading consumer nation. Much of what the Japanese consume - the tangible goods as well as the leisure activities which make up Japan 's material world-is western in
References: Asada, Akira. 1985. Koozo to chikara, Kigooron o Koete (Structure and Power: Beyond Somiotics), Tokyo: Fusanbo. Baudrillard, Joan. 1983. Simulations, translated by Paul Foss, Paul Patton and Philip Beitchman, New York: Somiotext(e). Baudrillard, Joan. 1984. For a Crffique of the Political Economy of the Sign, translated by Charles Levin, Missouri: Teios Press. Dol, Takeo. 1971. Amae no Kozo (The Structure of Amae), Tokyo: Kobundo. Goortz, Clifford. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures, Now York: Basic. Habormas, Jurgen. 1987. The Philosophical Discourse of Modoernity, translated by Frederick Lawrence, Cambridge: MIT Press. Jameson, Frederic. 1984. "Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism," Now Left Review, 146. Karatani, Kojin. 1985. Hihyoo to Posutornodan (Criticism and the Postmodern), Tokyo: Fusanbo. Lebra, Takie Sugiyama. 1976. Japanese Pattems of Behavior, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Lee, Ki-baik. 1984. A Now History of Korea, translated by Edward W. Wagner, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Lyotard, Jean-Francois. 1985. The Postmodem Condition, translated by Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Marcus, George E. and Michael M.J. Fisher. 1986. Anthropology as Cultural Critique, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Miyoshi, Masao and H.D. Harootunian. 1988. 'Postmodernism in Japan," The South Atlantic Quarterly, 87, no. 3. Mouor, Ross and Yoshio Sugimoto. 1986. Images of Japanese Society, London: Methuen Inc. Myers, Raymond and Mark Peattio, eds. 1984. The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895-1945, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Nozomu, Kawamura. 1980. "The Historical Background of Arguments Emphasizing the Uniqueness of the Japanese Society," Social Analysis, 5/6. Ohnuki-Tierny, Emiko. 1984. Illness and Culture in Contemporary Japan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Van Maanen, John. 1989. "Whistle While You Work: On Seeing Disneyland as the Workers Do," unpublished paper presented at the panel on the "Magic Kingdom" at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings in Washington D.C. on November 16.