Social Class in Contemporary Japan

Social Class in Contemporary Japan PDF

Author: Hiroshi Ishida

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-10-16

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 1135248168

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Post-war Japan was often held up as the model example of the first mature industrial societies outside the Western economy, and the first examples of "middle-mass" society. Today, and since the bursting of the economic bubble in the 1990’s, the promises of Japan, Inc., seem far away. Social Class in Contemporary Japan is the first single volume that traces the dynamics of social structure, institutional socialization and class culture through this turbulent period, all the way into the contemporary neoliberal moment. In an innovative multi-disciplinary approach that include top scholars working on quantitative class structure, policy development, and ethnographic analysis, this volume highlights the centrality of class formation to our understanding of the many levels of Japanese society. The chapters each address a different aspect of class formation and transformation which stand on their own. Taken together, they document the advantages of putting Japan in the broad comparative framework of class analysis and the enduring importance of social class to the analysis of industrial and post-industrial societies. Written by a team of contributors from Japan, the US and Europe this book will be invaluable to students and scholars of Japanese society and culture, as well as those interested in cultural anthropology and social class alike.

The Discursive Construction of Hierarchy in Japanese Society

The Discursive Construction of Hierarchy in Japanese Society PDF

Author: Zi Wang

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2020-08-10

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1501514598

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Seniority-based hierarchy (jouge kankei) is omnipresent in Japanese group dynamics. How one comports, depends on one’s status and position vis-à-vis others. To-date, no study shows what constitutes this hierarchy, where and when individuals growing up in Japan first come into contact with it, as well as how they learn to function in it. This book fills in the lacunae. Considering jouge kankei as a social institution and adopting a discourse analytic approach, this volume examines the ways in which institutional jouge kankei as an enduring feature of Japanese social life are created and reproduced. The monograph analyses how seniority-based relations are enacted, legitimised, transmitted, and reified by social actors through language use and paralinguistic discursive practices, such as the use of space, objects, signs, and symbols. It also looks at how established rules could be challenged. The empirical data on which findings are based are gathered through 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork from 2015 to 2018 in Japanese schools, with certain types of data (school club etiquette books and uniforms) being presented and analysed for the first time. This volume also shows continuity and change of jouge kankei from school to work.

Japanese Society

Japanese Society PDF

Author: Chie Nakane

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1972-02

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9780520021549

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"A brilliant wedding of 'national character' studies and analyses of small societies through the structural approach of British anthropology. One is of course reminded of Ruth Benedict's Chrysanthemum and the Sword which deals also with Japanese national culture. Studies by Margaret Mead and Geoffrey Gorer deal with other national cultures; however, all of these studies take off from national psychology. Professor Nakane comes to explanation of the behavior of Japanese through analysis rather of historical social structure of Japanese society, beginning with the way any two Japanese perceive each other, and following through to the nature of the Japanese corporation and the whole society. Nakane's remarkable achievement, which has already given new insight about themselves to the Japanese, promises to open up a new field of large-society comparative social anthropology which is long overdue." —Sol Tax "This is an important book!"--Robert E. Cole, Journal of Asian Studies "If you have time for just one book on Japan, try this one."--David Plath, Asian Student "Should be taken to heart by everyone who has dealings with Japan. . . .Even those--or, perhaps, most of all those--who know Japan intimately will be grateful to Professor Nakane for her brilliant study."--Times Literary Supplement

Japanese Society

Japanese Society PDF

Author: Robert J. Smith

Publisher: CUP Archive

Published: 1983

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 9780521315524

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A compelling illustration of Japan's evolution into an industrial state, the only major industrial society to emerge outside of the Western tradition.

Japanese Society

Japanese Society PDF

Author: Chie Nakane

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1972-02

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 0520021541

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"A brilliant wedding of 'national character' studies and analyses of small societies through the structural approach of British anthropology. One is of course reminded of Ruth Benedict's Chrysanthemum and the Sword which deals also with Japanese national culture. Studies by Margaret Mead and Geoffrey Gorer deal with other national cultures; however, all of these studies take off from national psychology. Professor Nakane comes to explanation of the behavior of Japanese through analysis rather of historical social structure of Japanese society, beginning with the way any two Japanese perceive each other, and following through to the nature of the Japanese corporation and the whole society. Nakane's remarkable achievement, which has already given new insight about themselves to the Japanese, promises to open up a new field of large-society comparative social anthropology which is long overdue." —Sol Tax "This is an important book!"--Robert E. Cole, Journal of Asian Studies "If you have time for just one book on Japan, try this one."--David Plath, Asian Student "Should be taken to heart by everyone who has dealings with Japan. . . .Even those--or, perhaps, most of all those--who know Japan intimately will be grateful to Professor Nakane for her brilliant study."--Times Literary Supplement

Japanese Social Organization

Japanese Social Organization PDF

Author: Takie Sugiyama Lebra

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 1992-07-01

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 9780824814205

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"This excellent book will surely become a mainstay on the reading lists of anthropologists, sociologists, and Japan specialists for many years to come. [It] provides rich and accessible ethnographic examples to illustrate basic anthropological theory. The underlying theme is that although Japanese "culture" produced specifically Japanese social institutions, these institutions can be studied using mainstream techniques. The book is a model of its kind in the evenness of its contributions, the quality of its writing, and the thoroughness of its index. Congratulations." --Monumenta Nipponica