Social Stratification In Contemporary Japan

First Published in 1994. The focus of this study is class and stratification in Japan. There are a few papers on social stratification in Japan that are written in English and make use of the SSM research. The present study uses the latest SSM data. These were collected in 1985, and are themselves becoming out of date, given that Japanese society has been experiencing rapid and radical change, though they remain among the most recent available. The authors are sociologists this book is intended for a general readership.

Through examination of contemporary Japanese society, this book demonstrates that the analysis of class formation is fundamental for a clear understanding of institutions and collective identity such as family, school work, gender and ethnicity.

The two leading sociologists of social stratification in Japan argue that most Japanese have attained a level of income in which they no longer suffer from poverty and starvation, a situation in which Japan has achieved an equalization of basic wealth.

Based on data collected on 1995 by the Japanese Sociological Association, this book investigates four major classes - new, old middle, capitalist and working - and their characteristics and mobility patterns in terms of income, work, social network, leisure activity, gender relations and voting behaviour.

The book is a study of intergenerational class mobility and the process of socioeconomic status attainment in contemporary Japan. The idea of 'Japan as an educational credential society' has been debated for a long time in Japan. The book empirically evaluates this idea within the framework of a cross-national comparison with the United States and Britain. The author also examines the patterns of class mobility in Japan within a cross-national perspective and reports similarities and differences in the mobility patterns among the three societies.

The recent manifestation of exclusionism in Japan has emerged at a time of intensified neoliberal economic policies, increased cross-border migration brought on by globalization, the elevated threat of global terrorism, heightened tensions between East Asian states over historical and territorial conflicts, and a backlash by Japanese conservatives over perceived historical apologism. The social and political environment for minorities in Japan has shifted drastically since the 1990s, yet many studies of Japan still tend to view Japan through the dominant discourses of “ethnic homogeneity (tanitsu minzoku shakai)” and “middle-class society (so ̄churyu ̄-shakai)” which positions the exclusion of minorities as an exceptional phenomenon. While exclusionism has been recognized as a serious threat to minority groups, it has not often been considered a representative issue for the whole of Japanese society. This tendency will persist until the discourses of tanitsu minzoku shakai and so ̄churyu ̄-shakai are systematically debunked and Japan is widely recognized as both multiethnic and socio-economically stratified. Today, as with most advanced capitalist countries, serious social divides occasioned by the impacts of globalization and neoliberalism have destabilized Japanese society. This book explores not only how Japanese society is diversified and unequal, but also how diversity and inequality have caused people to divide into separate realities from which conflict and violence have emerged. It empirically examines the current situation while considering the historical development of exclusionism from the interdisciplinary viewpoints of history, policy studies, cultural studies, sociology and cultural anthropology. In addition to analyzing the realities of division and exclusionism, the authors propose theoretical alternatives to overcome such cultural and social divides.

This sociology text which focuses on modern Japan establishes a historical and cultural context, then presents coverage of institutions, stratification, problems and social change. It provides cross-cultural and global material for students with no prior knowledge of Japan or sociology.

This edited book empirically discusses stratification in contemporary Japanese society. It is unique for its examination of social inequality in relation to declining fertility and an aging population. Japan is the most aged society in the world: according to the Statistics Bureau of Japan, people who are aged 65 and above comprised 29.1% of the country’s total population in 2021. Meanwhile, the fertility rate has continuously declined since the mid-1970s. Japan experienced a dramatic change in its demographic structure in a short period of time. Such fast change could be a major factor that generated social stratification. In her industrialization, Japan was thought to share a pattern of social stratification similar to that of developed European and North American countries but with a low degree of socio-economic inequality and a high degree of homogeneity. There is no clear support for this description of Japan, although the country does share a pattern and degree of social stratification similar to that observed in Europe and North America. The social stratification theory has been developed in close relationship to the labor market; however, it is necessary to further examine the social stratification of very aged societies in which a substantial number of the population—namely, retired persons—no longer have any ties to the labor market. In this book, the contributors explore the pattern of social stratification at three life stages: young, middle-aged, and elderly. Included are discussions of various aspects of stratification such as education, work, wealth, marriage, family, gender, generation, and social attitudes.