Ronald Dore, a British sociologist specializing in Japanese economy and society and the comparative study of types of capitalism, is known internationally for his prodigious output as researcher, writer and commentator over the last half century. He is an associate of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and is a fellow of the British Academy, the Japan Academy, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The citation for his eminent scholar award from the Academy of International Business describes him as ‘an outstanding scholar whose deep understanding of the empirical phenomena he studies and ability to build on it to develop theoretical contributions are highly respected not only by sociologists but also by economists, anthropologists, historians, and comparative business systems scholars’. His books City Life in Japan, Land Reform in Japan, Education in Tokugawa Japan, British Factory: Japanese Factory, The Diploma Disease: Education, Qualification and Development and Shinohata: Portrait of a Japanese Village are all considered classic texts.