El. knyga: Archaism and Actuality: Japan and the Global Fascist Imaginary

"Archaism and Actuality considers the relation of capitalist formation and fascism while continuing Harry D. Harootunian's theorization of subsumption-the ways that capitalism integrates and redirects pre-existing social, cultural, and economic practices. Harootunian proposes that all societies in the orbit of capitalism were subjected to the regime of uneven and combined development, and highlights Japan as an example of this phenomenon. The book engages the theoretical work of Marx and Gramsci and situates its analysis around the history of Japan, specifically in terms of three moments: the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the 1930s world crises and rise of Japanese fascism, and Japan's postwar afterlife. Harootunian uses the titular archaism as a framework for thinking through these historical moments and their use of the past in replacing or guiding the present"--

Harry Harootunian explores the formation of capitalism and fascism in Japan as a prime example of the uneven development of capitalism.

In Archaism and Actuality eminent Marxist historian Harry Harootunian explores the formation of capitalism and fascism in Japan as a prime example of the uneven development of capitalism. He applies his theorization of subsumption to examine how capitalism integrates and redirects preexisting social, cultural, and economic practices to guide the present. This subsumption leads to a global condition in which states and societies all exist within different stages and manifestations of capitalism. Drawing on Japanese philosophers Miki Kiyoshi and Tosaka Jun, Marxist theory, and Gramsci’s notion of passive revolution, Harootunian shows how the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and its program dedicated to transforming the country into a modern society exemplified a unique path to capitalism. Japan’s capitalist expansion in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, rise as an imperial power, and subsequent transition to fascism signal a wholly distinct trajectory into modernity that forecloses any notion of a pure or universal development of capitalism. With Archaism and Actuality, Harootunian offers both a retheorization of capitalist development and a reinterpretation of epochal moments in modern Japanese history.