Articles
The “Intermediateness” of Magazines for White-Collar Workers
The Transformation of Knowledge Formation in the 1980s
2020 Volume 97 Pages 105-123
Details
2020 Volume 97 Pages 105-123
This article analyzes magazines intended for white-collar workers to trace
the history of “intermediateness” in knowledge formation, a topic that has
been neglected in previous research on magazines.
First, our review of the existing literature summarizes knowledge
formation as conveyed through magazines intended for white-collar workers
during the pre-W.W.II period and the period of Japan’s high economic
growth（ in the 1950’s and in the 60’s）. Second, we discuss the content
and function of the magazine BIG Tomorrow, which launched in 1980. In
addition to surveying the content of the magazine, we also examine the
discourses surrounding the magazine.
Third, we refer to related studies to assess how the competitive environment
of white-collar workers influenced the content of BIG Tomorrow in the
1980s.
We conclude that during the prewar period and the period of Japan’s high
economic growth, the knowledge formation agreeable to the intelligentsia was
still alive. However, as the 1980s saw an increase in university graduates, the
young generation no longer were proud intelligentsia. Consequently, white-col
lar workers became targeted by Seishun Shuppan-sha, a media company
intended for non-elites. Since its inception, the company has a spirit of
“competing against the educated elite,” which resulted in articles that
promoted competition with elites through learning how to get ahead in the
workplace. Further, such competition through learning how to get ahead as
method of differentiating between employees was promoted because
numbers of university graduates were increasing during the period of stable
economic growth and there was a shortage of positions for them in
companies. Additionally, the competitive structure within companies fueled
the non-elites. In view of these factors, BIG Tomorrow began delivering
lessons on “how to get ahead” as practical knowledge and white-collar
workers read them. Since the 1990s, practical knowledge formation has
expanded beyond the workplace hierarchy resulting in the emergence
of a new “intermediateness” in knowledge formation within contemporary
society.
