National society in an age of globalization : Japan and the world in sociological perspective

It is incorrect to view globalization as a disorganizing influence on national society. National society as an outcome of modern industrialism is a substructure of the nation state. Japan’s history proves Gellner’s thesis that the concept of nation was formed at the stage of industrialization. If we interpret Parsons’s concept of the societal community as emphasizing the increasing importance of the integrative function during the age of globalization, it would seems to suggest that, in agreement with MacIver, community is not disorganized by globalization. Although an East Asian Union, corresponding to the European Union, is not possible at the present stage, the importance of Japan’s dual relation with the West, on the one hand, and with the East, on the other, is on the increase.