The theoretical scope of Fujita Shōzō’s later concept of contemporary totalitarianism: integrating ‘totalitarianism towards unruffled ease’ and ‘totalitarianism as market economy’

Abstract

My research explores the theoretical relevance of the Japanese intellectual historian Fujita Shōzō’s later concept of contemporary totalitarianism, the theoretical essence of which is captured by his concepts of ‘totalitarianism towards unruffled ease’ and ‘totalitarianism as market economy’. His conception of totalitarianism is clearly different from the concept as it is generally understood that his theoretical focus on totalitarian orientations can be seen particularly in his views of  contemporary life and the market mechanism. Fujita essentially divides the semantic scope of contemporary totalitarianism into these two socio-political concepts, although he did not build a clear theoretical bridge between them. In this research I argue that Fujita’s concept of contemporary totalitarianism reveals totalitarian orientations in contemporary life under the dialectical social conditions involving the rationalised system of a market economy and the strong narcissistic impulse to satisfy unruffled ease, particularly through seeing twentieth-century society in continuity. Furthermore, I argue that this leads us to critically understand contemporary social and political phenomena, thereby bringing us self-criticism and self-reflection in socio-pathological terms.