Abstract:

Walk into any bookstore these days and you’ll see at least half a dozen books on what American business executives can learn from Japanese managers. But there’s more to the lesson than just the techniques of management. In this program with Bill Moyers, Peter Berger discusses how studying the "economic miracle" of East Asia can also reveal some important truths about the state of our democracy, and about the character of individuals within the capitalist system. Berger—a professor at Boston University and director of the Institute for the Study of Economic Culture—analyzes the Japanese style of capitalism and argues that what works for one country may not necessarily work for another. (30 minutes, color)