Total War, New Deal, System Society

Abstract

1) From Modern to Post-Modern in Social Science
In this artide, the author reflects on his achievements after 1976. How do these achievements relate to the main question asked by the editorial comittee of the Society of the History of Economic Thought? The main question is: What is the meaning of the economics and/or economic thought during the Great Depression and/or War times?
Historical Aspects of the Contemporary Society (1982) and Contemporary Aspects of System Society (1996) are the author's two major works. In the former, he describes the transformation of advanced capitalist societies from ‘class-oriented’ to ‘system-oriented’ in the middle of the 20th century. The latter adds to this investigation two new findings: a) The Total War's mobilization system contributed greatly to the reorientation of society; b) Uncertainty or indeterminacy of the identity is the specific characteristics of contemporary society. The personal identity of the people in the contemporary society is not directly determined by their position in the social structure. It is rather the product of social interchange and negotiation among people.
The above is the fundamental idea of the author after 1976, and will here be explored in relation to the following issues.
2) Rethinking ‘Karl Marx and Max W eber’
3) Total War and ‘Overcoming Modernity’
4) Total War and the Rise of System Society
5) Total War and Socialism
6) New Deal and the Rise of System Society
7) J. A. Hobson and J. M. Keynes
8) Conclusion