A Sociology of Work in Japan

by Ross Mouer , Hirosuke Kawanishi

• ISBN13: 9780521651202
• ISBN10: 0521651204
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-06-20
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

What shapes the decisions of employees in Japan? The authors of this comprehensive and up-to-date survey of the relationship between work and society in Japan argue that individual decisions about work can only be understood through the broader social context. Many factors combine to affect such choices including the structuring of labour markets, social policy and, of course, global influences which have come increasingly to impinge on the organisation of work and life generally. By considering labour markets, social policy and relationships between labour and management, the book offers penetrating insights into contemporary Japanese society and glimpses of what might come in the future. Underlying the discussion is a challenge to the celebration of Japanese management practices which has dominated the literature for the last three decades. This is an important book for students of sociology and economics.

Author Biography

Hirosuke Kawanishi is Professor of Sociology at Waseda University, Tokyo.

Table of Contents

List of figures	vii
List of tables	viii
Preface	xi
Note on transliteration, romanization, and translation	xvii
List of abbreviations	xx
Part I: A context for studying work
The Japanese at work	3	(21)
Toward a sociology of work in Postwar Japan	24	(27)
Competing models for understanding work in Japan	51	(18)
Part II: The commitment to being at work
Hours of work, labor-force participation and the work ethic	69	(28)
Part III: Processing labor through Japan's labor markets
Change and challenge in the labor market	97	(20)
Segmentation of the labor market	117	(28)
Part IV: The broader social policy context for understanding choice at work in Japan
From labor policy to social policy: a framework for understanding labor process in Japan at the national level	145	(33)
Social security and safety nets	178	(21)
Part V: The power relations shaping the organization of work in Japan
The state of the union movement in Japan	199	(30)
Management organizations and the interests of employers	229	(24)
Part VI: The future
The future of work in Japan	253	(11)
References	264	(32)
Author index	296	(4)
General index	300