Kakuta Haruo---Decoding Japan---

My Photo
Name:
Location: Sakai, Osaka, Japan

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Notes on Italian History

"A social group can, and indeed must, already exercise 'leadership' before winning governmental power (this indeed is one of the principal conditions for the winning of such power); it subsequently becomes dominant when it exercises power, but even if it holds it firmly in its grasp, it must continue to 'lead' as well." (Antonio Gramsci, Selections from Prison Notebooks, Lawrence and Wishart, 1971, London, p.57/58)

You can, and indeed must, already exercise 'leadership' before winning governmental power (this indeed is one of the principal conditions for the winning of such power); you subsequently become dominant when you exercise power, but even if you hold the power firmly in your grasp, you must continue to “lead” as well.

"(T)here does not exist any independent class of intellectuals, but every social group has its own stratum of intellectuals, or tends to form one; however, the intellectuals of the historically (and concretely) progressive class, in the given conditions, exercise such a power of attraction that, in the last analysis, they end up by subjugating the intellectuals of the other social groups; they thereby create a system of solidarity between all the intellectuals, with bonds of a psychological nature (vanity, etc.) and often of a caste character (technico-juridical, corporate, etc.)" (ibid, p.60)

As it is said that "the artisanal character of agricultural labour was too obvious" (ibid, p.76), so it can be said that the artisanal character of educational labour is too obvious even today. I wonder when we will be able to conquer that character and to become an organized one.

In reality, geopolitics is always cold-blooded. "In reality, the principal tendencies of French politics were bitterly opposed to Italian unity. ...France, which 'ought' to be surrounded by a swarm of little states of Switzerland type in order to be 'secure'." (ibid, p.76)

"In real life, one cannot ask for enthusiasm, spirit of sacrifice, etc. without giving anything in return, even from the subjects of one's own country; all the less can one ask these things of citizens from outside that country, on the basis of a generic and abstract program and a blind faith in a far-distant government." (ibid, p.89) The give-and-take system is inevitable in real life.

How long will school grade deviation value keep being a fetish for adolescence? Will a figure of job prospects become another fetish someday? If the figure is to be important for choosing colleges, what figure will be important for preparatory levels of education? What can we predict over the fetishism over those figures?

"This form of hysterical unitarianism was especially prevalent among the Sicillian intellectuals (as a consequence of the formidable peasant pressure on the nobility's land, and also of the local popularity of Crispi);" (ibid., p.95) Some forms of hysterical anti-officialism have been especially prevalent among the teaching intellectuals (as a consequence of the formidable parental pressure on the nobility's information, and also of the local popularity of the governor).

As "the intellectuals of the lower grades, who normally tend to follow the university professors and great scholars, through spirit of caste" (ibid, p.104), so they form, or join, caste-spirit groups, or so called schools, under the names of great scholars.

"The 'leader' presupposes the 'led', and who was 'led' by these nuclei? These nuclei did not wish to 'lead' anybody, i.e. they did not wish to concord their interests and aspirations with the interests and aspirations of other groups. They wished to 'dominate' and not to 'lead'." (ibid, p.104/105) "This fact is of the greatest importance for the concept of 'passive revolution'---the fact, that is, that what was involved was not a social group which 'led' other groups, but a State which, even though it had limitations as a power, 'led' the group which should have been 'leading' and was able to put at the latter's disposal an army and a politico-diplomatic strength." (ibid, p.105) This is true not only of Italy but also of Japan. During the last days of Tokugawa Shogunate and Meiji Restoration, nobody seemed to be leading. Every one was just trying to dominate the nation, and, after accomplishing the domination, the parvenus just made the “revolution” “passive”, that is, they carried out a counterrevolution.

"The important thing is to analyse more profoundly the significance of a 'Piedmont'-type function in passive revolutions---i.e. the fact that a State replaces the local social groups in leading a struggle of renewal. It is one of the cases in which these groups have the function of 'domination' without that of 'leadership': dictatorship without hegemony." (ibid, p.05/106) Obviously, Meiji Restoration is dictatorship without hegemony. Then, was it domination without leadership?

"The hegemony will be exercised by a part of the social group over the entire group, and not by the latter over other forces" (ibid, p.106). In this sense, Meiji Restoration lacked hegemony, and might have had no leadership.

We need some "changes which in fact progressively modify the pre-existing composition of forces, and hence become the matrix of new changes." (ibid, p.109) Such changes could be brought about with the strategy composed with "war of position” and “war of manoeuvre" (ibid, p.108). In one sense, I'm better at war of maneuver, while not so much at war of position. Or the other way around actually? It is always very difficult to be aware of one's role.

"On Education"

Many teachers forget that the teacher must be aware of the contrast between the type of culture and society which he represents and the type of culture and society represented by his pupils, (Antonio Gramsci, Selections from Prison Notebooks, Lawrence and Wishart, 1971, London, p.36) They think the Japanese society is uniform, and that those students who cannot get accustomed to the teachers' culture and society are those who lack competency and efficiency.

"In reality a mediocre teacher may manage to see to it that his pupils become more informed, although he will not succeed in making them better educated; he can devote a scrupulous and bureaucratic conscientiousness to the mechanical part of teaching---and the pupil, if he has an active intelligence, will give an order of his own, with the aid of his social background, to the 'baggage' he accumulates." (ibid)

Even "a mediocre teacher may manage to see to it that his pupils become more informed, although he will not succeed in making them better educated”. Some pupils who have “an active intelligence, will give an order of his own, with the aid of his social background,” but other students who lack those background cannot “give an order of his own”.

Without "an order of his own,” “the 'baggage' he accumulates" cannot be called education. (ibid, p.36) The question is how we can have those students without “the aid of his social background” “give an order of his own”.

Mediocre teachers can only manage to bureaucratically arrange to have his students become more informed. They will not succeed in making the students better educated, no matter how scrupulous and conscientious their devotion may be, and they are the majority in school. Such being the case, only those students who have an active intelligence, that is, who have the aid of their certain social background, can give an order of their own to the pieces of information they have accumulated through the mediocre teachers.

If we desire to have our students get educated, we need a certain system through which even mediocre teachers can give an order of information to those students without the aid of their social background.

"It is noticeable that the new pedagogy has concentrated its fire on 'dogmatism' in the field of instruction and the learning of concrete facts --- i.e. precisely in the field in which a certain dogmatism is practically indispensable and can be reabsorbed and dissolved only in the whole cycle of the educational process. ... the new curriculum impoverishes the teaching and in practice lowers its level (at least for the overwhelming majority of pupils who do not receive intellectual help out side the school from their family or home environment, and who have to form themselves solely by means of the knowledge they receive in the class-room) --- in spite of seeming very rational and fine, fine as any utopia." (ibid, p.41) Here, Gramsci is not talking about today's “the Education at Ease”, but about their Italian educational reform some 80 years ago. What a coincidence that the both reforms worked or works against the lower social classes.

"Wider participation in secondary education brings with it a tendency to ease off the discipline of studies, and to ask for 'relaxations'." (ibid, p.42) So does it even today, some 80 years later.

"Undoubtedly the child of a traditionally intellectual family acquires this psycho-physical adaptation more easily. Before he ever enters the class-room he has numerous advantages over his comrades, and is already in possession of attitudes learnt from his family environment: he concentrates more easily, since he is used to 'sitting still', etc." (ibid, p.42) So, the question is how we should provide certain “attitudes” to those who lack certain family and social background. The social experiences or experiments in and around the Youth Clubhouse might make a good help.

"If our aim is to produce a new stratum of intellectuals, including those capable of the highest degree of specialisation, from a social group which has not traditionally developed the appropriate attitudes, then we have unprecedented difficulties to overcome." (ibid, p.43) If Japan is to become intelligent-based society, "then we have unprecedented difficulties to overcome."

"The Intellectuals"

"(T)he entrepreneur himself ... must be an organiser of the 'confidence' of investors in his business, of the customers for his product, etc."(Antonio Gramsci, Selections from Prison Notebooks, Lawrence and Wishart, 1971, London, p.5)

The educator should be an organiser of the 'confidence' of parents in his business, of the students for his classes.

"All men are intellectuals, one could therefore say; but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals." (ibid, p.9) So, "although one can speak of intellectuals, one cannot speak of non-intellectuals, because non-intellectuals do not exist." (ibid, p.9) Thus an educator is suppose to grow an sich intellectuals into fuer sich ones, not to make intellectuals out of nothing. "The problem of creating a new stratum of intellectuals consists therefore in the critical elaboration of the intellectual activity that exists in everyone at a certain degree of development," (ibid, p.9)

A Farewell to Japanism. The geopolitical concept Japan is too large to bundle the cultures and climates within her border. Decoding activities should not be based on the concept.

When we decode local or regional information, surmounting Japanism is essential. Otherwise, our information would be stereotyped. We must be, in other words, a realist.

Decoding areal information is to contribute to area studies. That is, decoding areas in Japan is to contribute to Japanology. When we do decoding in Japan, however, we have to be careful not to fall into the pitfall Japanism.

Japanism is a pitfall, which we must carefully avoid when we do decoding to contribute to Japanology abroad.

Gramsci once argued, "in Old Europe, where there exists a whole series of checks ... which ... give to every initiative the equilibrium of mediocrity". (ibid, p.20) Even in today's Japan, there exists a whole series of checks which give to every initiative the equilibrium of mediocrity, “diluting it in time and in space.” (ibid)

"In Protestant countries the difference [between the intellectuals and the people] is relatively slight (the proliferation of sects is connected with the need for a perfect suture between intellectuals and people, with the result that all the crudity of the effective conceptions of the popular masses is reproduced in the higher organisational sphere)." (ibid, p.23)

Gramsci seems to have thought Protestant countries played a rather innovative role at his time of history. If I could put it in an adverse way, as far as a country wants to be innovative, it should have relatively slight difference between its intellectuals and its people, and its sects should proliferate, which connect perfectly suture the intellectuals and the people, with the result that all the crudity of the effective conceptions of the popular masses is reproduced in the higher organisational sphere.

Existence is nothingness, and nothingness is existence. Existence is absence, and absence is existence.