Japan

Institutional and Communicative Dimensions

Overall, existing research on social networks in Japan contributed to the understanding of the social organizational basis of economic and cultural life. While networks as a concept are used broadly in respective research contexts, two dimensions in particular provide important insights into understanding the role of social networks in the development of social structure and culture in Japan: the institutional dimension and the communicative dimension.

First, social networks in Japanese society refer to interorganizational relations. In the context of the country's postwar economic growth, researchers drew attention to the significant role of networks and linkages between organizations, both formal and informal. Social networks in this context range widely from micro interpersonal situations to macro interorganizational settings such as keiretsu, hierarchical networks of Japanese business groups in which economic activities are vertically controlled between large firms and their subcontractors. These networks and linkages allow for and constrain the process of production. Thus, social networks institutionalized in broad sectors of society are characterized by two contradicting features: hierarchy [Page 454]and openness in network structure. On the one hand, social networks situated in organizations produce and reproduce networked modes of social relations. On the other hand, interactions, exchanges, and control are flexibly arranged in such relations. Social networks create informal connections and interactions outside formal exchanges in markets, which are later incorporated into part of hierarchical organizational relationships. One of the important consequences of the combination of hierarchical relations and openness to informal linkages is the institutionalization of linkages and connections, which gives rise to sources of both social order and dynamics in organizations. Institutionalized networks develop into long-term trust relationships that cut across various sectors of Japanese society.

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