Thread 17952911

From what I've learned about Japan through youtube, it seems like they went through a similar path of development as Europe. Isn't that evidence that historical materialism is true?

>>17952911 (OP)
They did not, Jap society is 100% east Asian and you'd know this if you had researched any other of them. Industrialization is not European and their path mirrors more of what was found in early China or the USSR than say Germany or the USA

japan made the entire jump from feudalism to industrial society in 50 years thanks to its emergence from isolation and interaction with the technologically advanced west.
its journey to modernity is probably the most unique and irregular in the world.

>>17952943
I saw a youtube short which described how the samurai became poor because they received stipends of rice which became less valuable while merchants became rich. The samurai had to pass sumptuary laws so they could maintain their prestige. That sounds like what happened in Europe.

>>17952922
>Industrialization is not European
what

>>17952957
the decline of the samurai class was definitely a major and important phenomenon of modern japanese history, some would say the most important one.
i am not sure i see much of an argument here though.
as for historical materialism, i think there's a lot of validity to it. if marx was completely off the mark, we wouldn't have remembered him or his theories. but material conditions are only part of the equation.