How Japanese Sociologists Had Received the Military Sociology

<p>Military sociology, which was established in the U.S.A. during the Cold War, examined contemporary themes such as armed forces, soldiers, and civil-military relations, with many empirical social research of military organization . Eventually, military sociology was internationalized in the West. However, in Japan, military sociology has not been imported. Instead, “the sociology of warfare” was established in the 2010s, which has accumulated interdisciplinary studies about the social influences and memories of total war（World War II）.</p> <p>However, despite this contrast, some Japanese sociologists studied militaryrelated themes and referred to literature on the Western sociology of the military. This paper analyzes their studies to reveal the relationships between internationalized military sociology and Japanese sociology of the military.</p><p>As a result, Japanese sociologists who referred to military sociology during the Cold War specialized in the sociology of industry, culture, and education. First, an industrial sociologist reviewed and arranged the theory of the military profession and informal groups. Second, a cultural sociologist developed the original theory of the military cultures of total war , including outside of military organizations, and conducted empirical research on Japanese veteransʼ groups and their writings. Third, educational sociologists conducted empirical research on the social backgrounds of military elites in pre-war Japan as compared with the West. Their achievements were unique from the point of view of arranging theories of military sociology and finding an alternative research object, rather than the strict acceptance of the framework of Western military sociology.</p>