Tracking Sports-Related Aspirations amongst WorkingClass Youth:

Re-Analyzing the Data from Previous Studies

Abstract

　The purpose of this paper is to re-analyze reports from previous social inquiries conducted in various fields, in order to verify what became of the sports-related aspirations that were determined to have existed in Japan amongst working-class youth during the period of rapid economic growth (1950-1960). Because not many sports facilities existed yet at this time, when the financial earnings and amount of available free time were also significantly limited amongst young undereducated workers, their enjoyment of sports was thereby markedly restricted. While males in particular desired to be able to participate fully in sports, the reality was that they often did not have the means to do so during this time period. From the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s, however, the aforementioned obstacles to enjoying sports began to slowly be lifted.
　This paper will take up two different inquiries: 1) whether similar sports-related aspirations continued to prevail amongst young people in the following decade of the 1970s-1980s, and 2) how the working-class youth of the rapid economic growth period went on to subsequently incorporate the enjoyment of sports into their lives. With regard to the first question, the next generation of youth did indeed harbor the same desire to play sports during the 1970s-1980s, although with two significant differences. First, they also displayed interest in many other types of leisure activities in addition to sports, meaning that the practice of sports was not their strongest aspiration. Secondly, the sports that they desired to practice were of a different nature of those previously favored by youth during the preceding period of rapid economic growth.
　In response to the second question, the generation who came of age during the period of rapid economic growth appeared to decrease their participation in sports as they grew older. The type of sports that they practiced, and their purpose for doing so, also appeared to undergo a transformation with age. As they entered the periods of middle and older age, their engagement with sports revealed a wide range of lifestyle-related differences, as some regularly engaged in light exercise while others apparently practiced no sports-related activities whatsoever.