Class Structure in Contemporary Japan

Abstract

In post-war Japanese social sciences, class studies have developed as “class composition studies” which have inclined to polarization theory and political assumption that regards working class i.e. proletariat as revolutionary force. Moreover, some class researchers has uncritically accepted analysis of the situation and political strategy of Japanese Communist Party. In these all circumstances, the term of class has been understood as much politically biased in Japanese social science, so class study has been more and more declined, where as its remarkable development in West Europe and United States. This article aims to remove the biases sticked to the term of class and reconstruct class study as a scientific research field. For this aim, at first, we adopt class structure scheme consist of 4 classes on a basis of class-exploitation theory of analytical Marxism, secondly, examine the changes in class structure and inter-generation class mobility, finally, examine the relationships of class location and social consciousness. The final conclusion is evident. Japanese society is still a class-divided society.