2025 Volume 77 Issue 1 Pages 5-28
During 1960s, outworking, which is defined here as the production of commodities at the workers’ place of residence, proliferated, supporting the tremendous economic growth at that time. Public officials in charge of outwork in Kanagawa Prefecture recognized that the nature of outwork was changing: Outworking, which was once perceived as a lower class’s deed to pay for their keep, was tend to be performed by people with broader economic backgrounds utilizing one’s free time for a better material life. The new type of outwork was often called “hobby outwork”. The weakening economic urgency of outworkers is discernible from the attributes of individuals utilizing outwork placement services offered by the prefecture. However, the primary users of these services remained low-educated women in their 20s to 40s, and the income of households engaged in outwork was lower than that of general working households, with the household income of individuals using placement services being particularly low. In the latter part of this paper, the author employed non-representational theory to analyze the memoirs of the users of outwork placement services. Focusing on the affect, emotion, corporeality, materiality, and relationality within these narratives revealed that the existence of “bodies working at home” generates new interactions with spouses and children, thereby leading to the formation of new family relationships. The contributors did not seem to be engaged in “hobby outwork” in the sense of utilizing their free time, although they were able to dispose of the wages earned by outworking. Consumption by outworkers was linked to the realization of material wealth and to becoming a “good” family under modern family norms. The practice of writing memoirs of outworking can be understood as the contributor’s politics of representation, aiming to dispel the negative perception associated with outworking.
