The Government's Failure on Environmental Problems and Public Finance:

The Distribution of Burden and A Role of Sociology

Abstract

How does sociology contribute to the distribution of burden? The Burden comes from the generation of benefit and can destroy a society or human. This is why someone must receive (=be distributed) and deal it. On the distribution of burden, it is essential that the distribution is equitable and rules of the distribution are based on fair procedures. Discussions and processes on fair rule making are influenced by some characteristics of a social system. In this paper, by concepts of the benefit zone and the victimized zone, the management system and the domination system, the public sphere and the arena, the rationality and the reasonability, we will take three cases. Those are the construction of super express trains called Seibi-Shinkansen, the debt of former national railway and the disposal of high level radioactive waste. By this analysis, we can point out some facts on unequal distribution of burden via dys-interrelation of the management system and the domination system. First of all, there are patterns of ‘melting’ and ‘transformation’ of burden. These can shift burdens onto nationwide people and future generations. Second, designs of the public sphere are indefinite. This can make procedures for rules arbitrary. Third, local government finance system promotes for unequal distribution of burden. Moreover, we are becoming a generation that receives burdens from former generations and facing with the ‘burden legacy’. For burden legacy, any rules cannot be based on a relationship between benefit and burden. For overcoming the burden legacy, we need to re-design the public sphere and prevent an unequal distribution of burdens by the dys-interrelation of two systems above mentioned.