A Comparative Sociology of Introductory Sociology Textbooks in Japan and the United States

What kind of sociological knowledge is transmitted in college education? Introductory textbooks on sociology represent its identity as a discipline. In this paper, I analyze the contents of introductory sociology textbooks in Japan and the United States from a comparative perspective. I find different degrees of institutionalization or standardization of sociological knowledge between the two countries. Japanese textbooks cover fewer fields of sociological research and the demarcation between the different fields is weaker in Japan than it is in the United States, i.e., the textbooks are less standardized in Japan.I argue that these differences are derived from the different educational contexts of college education in these two societies. Japanese textbooks are increasingly shifting toward “perspective-oriented” knowledge from explanations of sociological concepts or theories. This tendency further reduces the standardization of sociological knowledge imparted in Japanese colleges. Finally, I raise a question about the direction Japanese sociological knowledge production will take and the extent to which this knowledge production is influenced by the changing styles of reproducing knowledge.