Future of Social Planning in Regards to the Low Birthrate Issue

Abstract

I, as a sociologist, usually find it difficult for a government and/or social planning organization to affect people's behavior in marriage and/or childbirth. In particular, current social policies against the low birthrate in Japan have been not successful. In this paper, I argue two theoretical reasons why social planning and/or social policies against low birthrates have not succeeded. First, I suggest that there are fewer hypogamy-based couples in Japan than in Sweden or France, and that less hypogamy leads to a lower birthrate. Second, I show that young Japanese couples with low income have more children on average, and explain this phenomenon with evidence inspired by Japanese sociologist Takata Yasuma. Takata argues that higher expectations for living standards lead to having fewer children. It is reasonable to assume that social planning to improve the birthrate in Japan accelerates expectations for living standards beyond actual standards, which leads to lower birthrates. Finally, I suggest that researching discursive settings on low birthrate affects people's expectation for living standards and social planning.