Shumpei Kumon — Articles
English introductions to the institute’s research, essays, and archived publications. Japanese originals and downloadable materials are linked from each entry.
Personal Reflections on the Constitution
Shumpei Kumon offers proposals for constitutional debate in a society undergoing continuing modernization and informatization. He considers constitutional flexibility, changes in sovereign states, and the development of information rights. This is an archival opinion essay.
Network Sociology
Shumpei Kumon revisits Japan’s early information-society thinkers, including Tadao Umesao and Yoneji Masuda. The essay reflects on their contributions to a comprehensive vision of social change and the development of network society. It originally appeared in February 1998.
The Twenty-First Century as an Age of Co-Emulative Modernization
Shumpei Kumon interprets twentieth-century conflict as a struggle between emergent and deliberately developmental forms of modernization. He considers whether the twenty-first century can move toward co-emulative modernization, with collaboration rather than competition at the center of economic activity.
Hands Off the Netizen Quest
An English-language essay by Shumpei Kumon on netizens and the information society. The existing English text is reproduced here, with its original date and source links.
Is “Competition” Right?
Shumpei Kumon asks what competition means and examines the relationship between competitive and cooperative behavior. Beginning with the problems of bid-rigging, the essay considers the broader principles used to organize economic and social activity.
Raise the Banner of Freedom of Knowledge
Shumpei Kumon compares the decentralized pursuit of private interests in industrial society with the knowledge activities of netizens. He argues for freedom in the information sphere and cautions against prematurely suppressing netizen initiative through governance.
Shumpei Kumon: Career Record
A historical career record from undergraduate and graduate study at the University of Tokyo and a Ph.D. at Indiana University to university appointments, leadership of GLOCOM, and the establishment of the institute at Tama University in 2004.
Shumpei Kumon: Publications
A bibliography of Shumpei Kumon’s books on social systems, network society, information civilization, modernization, and social design. The Japanese record lists works published between 1978 and 2014. See the current profile for selected books and recent papers.