This book continues to influence my thinking about society more than any other I've read in the last ten years. Sakaiya's concept of "social subjectivity" as being one of the driving forces in societal evolatuion has provided a frame for thinking about why people behave the way they do, and has lao provided me witha potent pltfrom for fdeveloping my own brand of paradigmatic thinking.
This is not an easy read. The first third of the book is an intricately detailed primer on Asian culture history. Sakiya uses this deep histiry to set up the epochal trends that he sees. To a Westerner not schooled in Asian history, it was a tough read because Sakaiya assumed familiarity with some of the historical figures and events that I didn't possess. Yet for me this history opened a lot of avenues in terms of seeing history unfold over a MUCH longer timeframe than the average Amerrcna is accustmoed to or comfortable with.
Once Sakiya gets into the present and points to the future, however, the book fairly crackles with unique ideas about the types of fundamental processes and defintions that constitute a "knowledge value society". The core value or operator is nuance. The ability to create nuance, in fasbhion, music, art, or even terrminology, is the source of value in a knwoledge value society. The tools for aiding ion te creation of nuance, and the networks for conducinting nuance are likewise the core utilities in this kind of society.
