Beating Goliath for Status: Social Stigmatisation of Status Dissatisfaction and the Case Study of the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905

Abstract

The Russo-Japanese war from 1904-1905 has been marked as one of the most significant moments in the status of Asian nations in history. It was the major war in the beginning of the 20^th century and it was the first historic event that a smaller Asian nation could gain victory over a bigger power such as Russia. The question is, ‘why did Japan challenge Russia in the first place because the Russian defeat would incur minor losses, but the Japanese setback would result in major losses?’ To answer this historical conundrum, this research article synthesises the status-seeking theory with the stigmatisation theory and calls it as ‘social stigmatisation of status dissatisfaction.’ This theory points out how Japan’s encounter with the Western standard of civilisation rendered the Japanese inferior and pressured them to seek status and recognition from the West. Such desires for status and recognition drove Meiji-era foreign policy. Moreover, this article also argues that the underlying cause of Japan’s fight with Russia was because the latter failed to recognise the former as an equal, sovereign nation. This could be indicated from how Russia misrecognised the rights of Japan to maintain a sphere of influence in East Asia, which became a core cause that ignited the Japanese public to pressure the Japanese government to wage war against the Russian empire.