Storming the Press
Mass media and the Differentiation in Collective Mentality of Urban Dwellers
1994 Volume 1994 Issue 7 Pages 1-12
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1994 Volume 1994 Issue 7 Pages 1-12
“Taisho-Seihen”: The Resignation of the Katsura Cabinet in 1913 was caused by the mass movement of urban dwellers especially in Tokyo. Mobs stormed the Diet and many newspaper offices which had vindicated the cabinet. They also burnt away many streetcars and police boxes as occurred in “Hibiya riot” in 1905.
In this paper, contrary to the traditional perspective of historians, I will not appreciate the democratical or class maturity of urban dwellers but instead find out the differentiation in their collective mentality, analysing their action styles in the disturbance, connected with some effects of the mass media in which they had been involved.
