Keeping Women in Their Place? Spousal Influence, Vote Choice and Changing Marital Dynamics in Japan

Abstract

ABSTRACT Rural to urban migration in postwar Japan contributed to malapportionment, resulting in the inflation of seats won by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) whose traditional stronghold is rural Japan. The support of older, rural women socialized prior to the war and suffrage is considered central to the party's continued dominance, offsetting the concentrated vote of young, urban women. Conventional wisdom holds that women's voting patterns, particularly those of older, rural women, are influenced by husbands who are likely LDP supporters. This article uses survey data to test for patterns of influence and marital congruence amid rapid demographic changes that promise to undermine the strength of marriage as a traditional agent of adulthood political socialization.