The Effects of Centre/Periphery-Differentiation and the Semantics of Civilisation, With an Example of Devolutional changes in Love Semantics in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Japan

Abstract In this paper, the author discusses the concept of differentiation between the center and periphery and its structural effects within larger society. The author goes on to illustrate how the process of globalization – and increasingly intensified contact with the functionally differentiated “center”– does not always promote functional differentiation in every local society outside of it but can instead destroy the evolutionary potential existing therein. To this purpose, the author focuses on the changes of love semantics in late-19th- and early-20th-century Japan. Caused by the dominance of civilization semantics that corresponded to the relationship between the center and periphery at the structural level, love semantics were re-moralized, losing their power to create an autonomous sphere for intimate relationships free from societal authorities and powers such as morals and politics.