Editing Nihonjinron (section)

====As cultural nationalism====
{{Conservatism in Japan}}
Scholars such as Peter N. Dale (1986), Harumi Befu (1987), and Kosaku Yoshino (1992) view nihonjinron more critically, identifying it as a tool for enforcing social and political [[conformity]]. Dale, for example, characterizes nihonjinron as follows:

{{blockquote|First, they implicitly assume that the Japanese constitute a culturally and socially homogeneous racial entity, whose essence is virtually unchanged from prehistoric times down to the present day. Secondly, they presuppose that the Japanese differ radically from all other known peoples. Thirdly, they are conspicuously nationalistic, displaying a conceptual and procedural hostility to any mode of analysis which might be seen to derive from external, non-Japanese sources. In a general sense then, nihonjinron may be defined as works of [[cultural nationalism]] concerned with ostensible 'uniqueness' of Japan in any aspect, and which are hostile to both individual experience and the notion of internal socio-historical diversity.<ref>Dale (1986), Introduction.</ref>}}

The emphasis on [[ingroup]] unity in ''nihonjinron'' writings, and its popularization during Japan's period of military expansion at the turn of the 20th century, has led some Western critics to brand it a form of [[ethnic nationalism|ethnocentric nationalism]]. [[Karel van Wolferen]] echoes this assessment, observing a collectivism prevalent in the society.<ref>{{cite web |last=Caron |first=Bruce |url=http://junana.com/CDP/corpus/GLOSSARY18.html |title=17 Nihonjinron |access-date=March 25, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928075020/http://junana.com/CDP/corpus/GLOSSARY18.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>