Review by Choice Review
Although it is recognized that a legal system responds to societal change, there is a great deal of controversy as to whether law can induce such change. Upham's book examines the way in which political elites use legal rules and institutions to manage and direct conflict and to control change in Japan. The social conflict among organized groups described by the author include pollution victims as a group against polluting firms; minorities demanding social equality against the majority; women workers protesting discriminatory employment practices; and one industrial sector against another in the formation of national economic policy. Most of the book describes and analyzes such conflict, and focuses on the role of law and governmental effort to direct and manage the concomitant pressures for change. The Japanese model of law, based on the ideology of consensus, illustrates the elite's attempt to retain some measure of control over the process of social conflict and change. This model also demonstrates how disaffected groups and leaders can use legal mechanisms to induce change. A good addition to the sociology of comparative law. Upper-division undergraduates and above.-D.A. Chekki, University of Winnipeg
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
