Ronald Dore was a remarkable social scientist, comparative and evolutionary sociologist and scholar of Japan whose publications span development studies, education, political economy, industrial and economic sociology, politics and international relations, and Japanese history. Intellectually curious, empirically focused and always willing to challenge conventional wisdom and theories, he used his pre-eminent mastery of classical and modern Japanese to analyse Japan’s post-war rise – and subsequent stumble – and from this to question policies and practices in the UK and elsewhere. From ‘the diploma disease’, goodwill and relational contracting, to flexible rigidities and ‘reverse convergence’ late development, his conceptually rich and lucid writing remains influential today.
Posted to Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, 22