Transformation of the class structure in contemporary Japan

Abstract

Japan had experienced a rapid increase in economic disparity since the early 1980s. This article attempts to quantitatively clarify the structure of economic disparity and its social consequences in contemporary Japan from the perspective of Marxian class theory. Based on the analysis of government statistics and questionnaire survey data, the following facts were revealed. First, the class categories based on Marxian class theory had strong explanatory power for income and social consciousness. Second, in Japanese society, there is an exploitation relationship in which the three classes located in the capitalist mode of production exploit the old middle class located in simple commodity production. Within the capitalist mode of production, the capitalist class and the new middle class are the exploiting classes and the working class is the exploited class, however the central targets of exploitation are the underclass and female workers. Thirdly, the underclass is fundamentally different from the other classes in terms of income, life course, consciousness and living conditions. From the above, we can conclude that Japanese society today is a new class society that includes the underclass as an important element at the bottom of class structure.