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Japanese Origins of Information Society Theory TECHNICS AND DIALECTICS OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY: JAPANESE ORIGINS OF INFORMATION SOCIETY THEORY by Kyle Alexander Thompson B.A. (Hons., Asian Studies), University of British Columbia, 2008 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the School of Communication Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology © Kyle Alexander Thompson 2011 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2011 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for Fair Dealing. Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. APPROVAL Name: Kyle Alexander Thompson Degree: Master of Arts (Communication) Title of Thesis: Technics and Dialectics of the Information Society: Japanese Origins of Information Society Theory Examining Committee: Chair: Richard Smith Professor ___________________________________________ Andrew Feenberg Senior Supervisor Professor ___________________________________________ Richard Gruneau Supervisor Professor ___________________________________________ Ian Angus External Examiner Professor, Department of Humanities Date Defended/Approved: July 12, 2011 ii Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the “Institutional Repository” link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission. Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. While licensing SFU to permit the above uses, the author retains copyright in the thesis, project or extended essays, including the right to change the work for subsequent purposes, including editing and publishing the work in whole or in part, and licensing other parties, as the author may desire. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada Last revision: Spring 09 ABSTRACT Technics and Dialectics of the Information Society: Japanese Origins of Information Society Theory is a historical and theoretical analysis of the development of Japanese Information Society Theory from the origins of postwar Japanese capitalism to the present day. Making use of the methods of Political Economy and Critical Theory, it examines the contradictions of Japanese capitalism within a global context, and considers how Information Society Theory constituted both a strategy used by the Japanese capitalist class to overcome barriers to accumulation in the crisis of the late 1960s – early 1970s, and an ideology of legitimation, the utopian dimension of which points beyond the theory‟s own limitations to possibilities for a renewal of socialist politics. In its concluding section the thesis briefly considers how Information Society Theory adapted to address the changing circumstances of Japan following the bubble economy of the 1980s, and how it addressed the challenge of global neoliberalism. Keywords: Information Society Theory; Political Economy; Critical Theory; Marxism; Informationalism; Postwar Japan; Japanese History; Socialism; Yoneji Masuda; Tessa Morris-Suzuki; Andrew Feenberg; Herbert Marcuse; MITI; METI iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to acknowledge the debt this paper owes to Andrew Feenberg, whose written work and wonderfully elucidating seminars on the Frankfurt School and Philosophy of Technology greatly expanded my understanding of society and history. I would also like to thank Richard Gruneau for all his lectures, which provided invaluable practical instruction in the method of historical materialism and the analysis of ideology. Peter Chow-White‟s supervision of my directed reading on the work of Manuel Castells challenged me to expand my intellectual horizons and provided me with the basis to begin writing the thesis in earnest. Ian Angus‟ comments helped refine my use of Critical Theory in this work, Yuezhi Zhao helped me situate the development of Japanese Information Society Theory in the context of global political economy, and Yves Tiberghien‟s lectures on Japanese political economy had a formative influence on my understanding of post-bubble era Japan. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions of Geoffrey Glass in proof- reading the majority of the thesis and helping me to think through the significance of intellectual property laws to capitalist development. My thanks also go to all the members of the School of Communication‟s Capital Reading Group for their insights and encouragement. Finally I would like to thank my parents for all their support, without which this thesis would likely not have been completed. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval .......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ........................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. v Glossary .......................................................................................................................... vi Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1: Occupation and Revolution – Japan 1945-1947 .............................................................. 4 1.1 Revolution Peace and Democracy? .............................................................................. 4 1.1.1 The Character of SCAP .................................................................................. 5 1.1.2 “Peace” and “Democracy” – The Revolution from Above ................................. 10 1.1.3 The Political Economy of the Initial Occupation Period .................................... 14 1.2 The Revolution from Below and the Reverse Course ................................................... 19 1.2.1 The Revolution From Below ......................................................................... 19 1.2.2 The Reverse Course ..................................................................................... 25 2: From Occupation to Crisis – Japan 1945-1973 ............................................................. 28 2.1 Mr. Dodge Goes to Tokyo ........................................................................................ 28 2.2 The Age of Miracles ................................................................................................ 34 2.2.1 Special Procurements and Economic Recovery ................................................ 34 2.2.2 The Separate Peace ...................................................................................... 36 2.2.3 The Postwar Regime .................................................................................... 38 2.2.4 From Crisis and Back Again – The Economic Miracle ...................................... 46 3: The Political Economy of Information Society Theory ................................................. 55 3.1 The Miracle Ends .................................................................................................... 55 3.2 Information Society Theory as Convergent Solution .................................................... 65 3.3 Information Capitalism and its Consequences ............................................................. 71 4: The Future and its Discontents ................................................................................... 83 4.1 Information Capitalism and Computopia: The Contradictions of Information Society Theory ........................................................................................................ 84 4.2 Negativity and Information Society Theory .............................................................. 103 4.3 Rationality
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