The Science of Oriental Society

This book provides a compelling exploration into the distinctive approaches East Asian scholars employ to articulate the peculiarities of Asia’s modernity. These narratives are deftly shaped through their interactions with German-American social scientist Karl August Wittfogel, offering rich insights into the intellectual exchanges that have influenced regional understandings of society.

The Science of Oriental Society: Karl August Wittfogel and the East Asian Intellectuals explores how Wittfogel’s controversial concept of “Oriental society” has influenced the assessments and interpretations of Asia’s economy and society by generations of East Asian social scientists throughout the twentieth century. The book examines the social thought of a broad spectrum of individuals engaged in the debate over Oriental society, including professional economists and sociologists in Japan and China, non-university radical activists of various convictions, and multinational research personnel who served under Japan’s colonial rule in Asia. It also details Wittfogel’s personal and intellectual interactions with his contemporary scholars from East Asia and discusses how these local intellectuals appropriated and recontextualized his theoretical framework to suit their differing political agendas.

This book will be of great value to students and researchers interested in the history of social sciences, the history of sinology, heterodox economic thought, Europe-Asian knowledge transfer, and broadly defined Area Studies.