村落から工業都市への変容

宇部における企業経営者層の形成

抄録

This paper analyzes, in historical perspective, the process by which a corporate management stratum emerged in Ube, a city in Yamaguchi prefecture. Following administrative unification beginning in the Meiji era, Ube developed around the coal-mining industry. The management of coal-mining firms was made up, not of the large landowners of the uppermost social stratum, but of people of the upper and upper-middle strata village dwellers. The growth of coal mining led to a rapid increase in population. Sharp confrontation eventually arose between native residents (management) and newcomer residents (labor). Upholding the slogan “unanimous cooperation, ” the corporate management stratum promoted local unity, paving the way for the village's transformation into an industrial city.