Takao Tanase and Talcott Parsons: The Possibility Of Functional Analysis

  Takao Tanase makes a unique contribution to sociology of law because he uniquely applied the sociological framework of Talcott Parsons who elaborated a general theory.

  When Tanase studied abroad in 1970’s, he majored in sociology and was mentored by Parsons. So Tanase was clearly influenced by Parsons in his early works and tried to develop or modify Parson’s theory. But after that he rarely mentioned Parsons and repeatedly referred to normative theories such as critical legal studies. So lately Tanase has been considered a postmodern theorist in Japan.

  But if we read intensively his works, we can notice that he was influenced by Parsons all the time although he never clearly mentioned Parsons.

  Tanase frequently used Parsons’ functional analysis uniquely to study law and society in Japan. He decomposed research objects (tort law in Japan, for example) into ideal elements (logic of liberalism, for example) and observed the functions of those modern ideal elements in real social conditions. Then based on the observations and new normative theories such as postmodernism transcending the limits of modern ideas, he proposed what is necessary for modern law imported from the West to function more properly in society. In this way Tanase applied Parsons’ general theory standing on the convergence between idealism (normative theories) and positivism (observations), and his application gives a hint when someone applies Parsons’ general theory to researching the functions of law in other countries.

  Though Parsons was attacked severely and his influence declined once, he has been reevaluated since 1980s. But this is not true for sociology of law. So Tanase’s application becomes a nice model of using Parsons’ general theory in sociology of law and it suggests the possibility of researching and comparing the functions of law globally.