Class Structure in Contemporary Japan

Abstract

:In postwar Japan, class study has developed as “class composition studies” primarily carried out by Ryuken Ohashi. These studies are based on polarization theory, which assumes that all classes will be divided into the capitalist class and the working class, and on unrealistic assumptions that regard the working class as a revolutionary force. And because of researchers’ specific political positions, class study has often been misunderstood. This has led to the decline of class study in Japan.It is now necessary to remove such theoretical and political biases and to reconstruct class study as a field of social science. On the basis of class theories from structuralist Marxism to analytical Marxism since the mid-1970s, we must theoretically establish a class structure scheme and class categories. These must be capable of responding to the feminist criticism of class theory, and testable through quantitative analysis.Given the above objective, in this article, we will first construct class categories that can be applied to empirical studies. Based on the articulation of the capitalist mode of production and simple commodity production, we will adopt a class structure scheme consisting of four classes: the capitalist class, new middle class, working class, and old middle class. We will also take into consideration occupational segregation by gender. Next we will outline changes in class structure, examining intergenerational class mobility and clarifying the fact that the barrier against intergenerational class mobility is becoming stronger in contemporary Japan. Finally, we will examine the relationship between class location and social consciousness, as well as clarify the fact that class location continues to be of primary importance in the formation of social consciousness.