East Asian societies continue to react to developments occurring in the Western part of the world as well as influence development elsewhere due to the global reach of East Asian economies and the increased political weight of East Asian societies. These systems have distinctive features often connected with local social and cultural traditions. However, these traditions are constantly being reinterpreted, and the changing meanings attached to them must be taken into account. Recent Social, Environmental, and Cultural Issues in East Asian Societies is an essential research book that explores various social, environmental, and cultural issues challenging modern East Asian cultures and their implications on society. Featuring a wide range of topics such as local identity, social risk, and government policy, this book is ideal for researchers, policymakers, sociologists, managers, anthropologists, politicians, diplomats, academicians, and students.

While the balance between private and public sectors are based primarily on the experiences of the wealthy societies in Western Europe and North America, the global reach and increased political weight of East Asian economies is bound to influence other societies as well. Contemporary Social Issues in East Asian Societies: Examining the Spectrum of Public and Private Spheres focuses on modern highly developed East Asian societies and their social issues, particularly ones that are related to family, institution, and health. By examining the modernized global society and its connectedness, this book is a vital resource for researchers, students, and academicians interested in the distinctive features connected with local, social and cultural traditions of East Asian society.

Nowhere is the connection between society and the environment more evident and potentially more harmful for the future of the world than in Asia. In recent decades, rapid development of Asian countries with very large populations has led to an unprecedented increase in environmental problems such as air and water pollution, solid and hazardous wastes, deforestation, depletion of natural resources and extinction of native species. This handbook provides a comprehensive survey of the cultural, social and policy contexts of environmental change across East Asia. The team of international experts critically examine a wide range of environmental problems related to energy, climate change, air, land, water, fisheries, forests and wildlife. The editors conclude that, with nearly half of the human population of the planet, and several rapidly growing economies, most notably China, Asian societies will determine much of the future of human impacts on the regional and global environments. As climate change-related threats to society increase, the book strongly argues for increased environmental consciousness and action in Asian societies. This handbook is a very valuable companion for students, scholars, policy makers and researchers working on environmental issues in Asia.

Since in the current global environmental and climate crisis East Asia will play a major role in negotiating solutions, it is vital to understand East Asian cultural variations in approaching and solving environmental challenges in the past, present, and future. The interdisciplinary volume Nature, Environment and Culture in East Asia. The Challenge of Climate Change, edited by Carmen Meinert, explores how cultural patterns and ideas have shaped a specific understanding of nature, how local and regional cultures develop(ed) coping strategies to adapt to environmental and climatic changes in the past and in the present and how various institutions and representatives might introduce their ideas and agendas in future environmental and climate policies on national levels and in international negotiating systems.

This volume discusses environmental change, natural resource exploitation and the prospect for ecological sustainability in Southeast Asia. The contributors including sociologists, geographers, anthropologists, economists, political economists and historians, presents the findings of recent archival and field research mainly from ongoing programmes of team research based in European universities and institutes. Among the themes discussed are European and indigenous perceptions of the environment; historical processes of environmental change; the politics of resource use; ecotourism and development; deforestation and smallholding land-use strategies; migration and environmental degradation; disease environment and human geography; demography, sustainability and resource exploitation.

Embodied Memories, Embedded Healing critically engages with the major East Asian cultural knowledge, beliefs, and practices that influence environmental consciousness in the twenty-first century. This volume examines key thinkers and aspects of Daoist, Confucianist, Buddhist, indigenous, animistic, and neo-Confucianist thought. With a particular focus on animistic perspectives on environmental healing and environmental consciousness, the contributors also engage with media studies (eco-cinema), food studies, critical animal studies, biotechnology, and the material sciences.

"Drawing on work in a range of disciplines-including history, anthropology, demography, development, environmental studies, political studies, health, sociology and the arts-this work approaches East Asia from new perspectives.The book looks at contemporary Japan and Korea and focuses on many facets of Chinese culture, artistic production, economic development, digital issues, education and international collaboration" -

In the study of civil society and social movements, most cases are based in Western Europe and North America. These two areas of the world have similar histories and political ideals and structures in common which in turn, affect the structure of its civil society. In studying civil society in Asia, a different understanding of history, politics, and society is needed. The region’s long traditions of centralized, authoritarian states buttressed by Confucian and in some cases Communist ideologies may render this concept irrelevant. The chapters in this international volume cover most of the areas and countries traditionally defined as belonging to East Asia: Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and China. The case studies included in this volume confront the utility of using the Western concept of civil society, represented in its most active form – social movements – to think about East Asia popular politics. Along with providing an array of important case studies of social movements in East Asia, the introduction, chapters and conclusion in the book take up three major theoretical questions: the effect of the East Asian cultural, social and institutional context upon the mobilization, activities and outcomes of social movements in that region, the role of social movements in larger transformative processes, utility of Western social movement concepts in explaining social movements in East Asia. This book will be of interest to two major groups of readers, those who study East Asia and those who pursue social movements and civil society, as well as politics more generally.

Why ‘Managing across diverse cultures in East Asia’? We re-examine in this book the link between culture and management across the region vis a vis the new economic, political and social landscape that has appeared over the last decade. We accordingly present a set of chapters on East Asian cultures, economies, societies and their management across the board, focusing on countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, as well as the Overseas Chinese enclaves of Hong Kong SAR, Macao and Taiwan. The contributors to this edited book are all specialists in their respective fields; they hail from a variety of universities and business schools across the world, located in a wide range of countries in the East and in the West. The chapters, we believe, reflect a balance between the past and present, theory and practice, as well as the general and the particular. 'East Asia could not be more important. Malcolm Warner could not be more insightful. Reading Managing Across Diverse Cultures in East Asia will allow you to gain a profound understanding of the cultural complexity in this dynamic region of the world.' - Nancy J. Adler, McGill University, Montreal 'We all need to understand more about management in East Asia, and to learn from it. Managing Across Diverse Cultures in East Asia has contributions from international experts who provide significant insights into the cultures of the most dynamic region in the world today. This book is a landmark publication.' - John Child, University of Birmingham 'This edited volume, with contributions by significant scholars from around the globe, provides a timely and penetrating review of management issues across East Asia, a region that rivals Europe and North American in economic significance and is still ascending. It is a must read for anyone who is interested in international management.' - Kwok Leung, City University of Hong Kong 'Helping a new generation of readers interested in this important region to make better sense, Managing Across Diverse Cultures in East Asia is destined to become a new classic. I expect this well-researched book to be widely read, cited, and debated in the years to come.' - Mike W Peng, University of Texas at Dallas 'Having had such unexpected disasters as earthquakes, floods and financial crises in recent years, we are increasingly dependent on people-management. Development of human resources, in turn, requires region-specific and organization-specific strategies. The present volume edited by Malcolm Warner points the reader to the secret of success in high-performing economies and firms in East Asia.' - Yoko Sano, Kaetsu University, Tokyo

This important volume explores the influence of global environmental discourses, and local traditions and practices, in twelve countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Two fundamental, interlocking questions are addressed: To what degree is a common environmental discourse emerging within the region? To what degree do environmental attitudes and behaviour remain embedded in local traditions and practices? Answers to these questions are sought on the basis of two parallel groups of studies. The first closely examines cultural influences in individual countries, including traditional attitudes to nature and the contemporary politics of the environment. Against this background, the second study examines the attitudes of young people across the region, based upon extensive survey and focus group data. Emerging from these investigations are striking findings that illuminate the patterns of social and environmental conditions within the Asia-Pacific. Offering a wealth of original material and data, and important conclusions concerning the direction of environmental policy and education in the region, the book will be of value to students, researchers and policy-makers alike.