Abstract
A central issue for Asian criminologists is whether there are distinctive patterns of offending in Asian countries and, if so, how these can be explained by distinctive social institutions and cultural values. This chapter contrasts two approaches to investigating this problem. Quantitative criminologists, drawing on the ideas of Emile Durkheim, seek to develop a cross-cultural theory or global criminology (Karstedt 2001) that explains international variation. Interpretivists, influenced by Max Weber, look at how intellectuals and criminal justice professionals in different countries construct and use their own theories about crime (Nelken 2010). Three sources of information are considered: the 1990s Asian values debate; cultural nationalism in China; and how some criminologists in Japan, South Korea and China view the crime problem.
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Notes
- 1.
The term “Indigenous” (capitalised) is often used in a different sense in settler societies such as Australia and Canada to refer to the people who lived in the country before colonisation.
- 2.
For a review, see Travers (2011).
- 3.
Yew was criticised by, among others, Francis Fukayama (1998), for presenting Asia as culturally homogeneous and claiming that there was no place for the pursuit of democracy and human rights within the Asian cultural tradition.
- 4.
Brave New World (1932), the novel by Aldous Huxley, is about an attempt to create a perfect society through social engineering.
- 5.
Auto-ethnography is a method in qualitative research that involves reflecting on your own life and experiences. There is usually some degree of auto-ethnography in comparative research, whatever method is employed, if this involves visiting a different culture.
- 6.
Morgan and Morgan (2010) suggest a rise in the imprisonment rate per 100,000 between 1996 and 2010 from 37.7 to 58.4 in Japan, and from 106.2 to 126.2 in China. Interestingly, these statistics suggest that the rate fell in South Korea from 138.7 to 97.9.
- 7.
A possible model is a project by three groups of European anthropologists and sociologists who conducted focus groups in different countries about a policy issue and then met to compare their findings (Amelang and Beck 2010). They report that the discussions between the researchers, which involved translating findings into a shared language, were as interesting as the substantive findings.
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Travers, M. (2017). Asian Values, Crime and Social Change. In: Liu, J., Travers, M., Chang, L. (eds) Comparative Criminology in Asia. Springer Series on Asian Criminology and Criminal Justice Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54942-2_3
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