ABSTRACT
The recent discussion of modernization theory by critics of functional and evolutionary concepts carries with it implications for the imagery and perspectives with which social scientists conceive of social change as a process. Recent criticisms have been directed at the use of concepts that utilize polar opposites, as beginning and end points in social and cultural change. In analyzing "traditional culture" as an idea this chapter describes the movements that have played significant roles in identifying the uniqueness of social groups and the content of their own culture. In treating movements for self-identification and cultural change as reflexive, it emphasizes that these are movements of both self-discovery and of self-definition and redefinition. The Japanese have been concerned with modernization and tradition, sometimes seeing in the latter a barrier to the former and sometimes stressing the detrimental effects of modernization in displacing traditional Japanese ways.
