Economic recession and the nature and pace of social change in Japan

Abstract

Previous research has found a link between economic development and post-materialist and libertarian values. This research examines social change in values in Japan from the mid-1970s to the beginning of the 21st century. Using Japanese survey data, we investigate the nature and pace of social change during the economic crisis of the early 1990s, as well as in the periods before and after the burst of the bubble economy. We find that social change stalled during the economic crisis and resumed again in the late 1990s, but at a much lower level than in the late 1980s. We argue that economic period effects are largely responsible for the slowdown in social change in values in Japan at the end of the 20th century.