Major objectives of this study are to determine in the six large cities of Japan : 1) the proportion of population in each stratum, 2) the self-identification of the members of each stratum concerning stratum affiliation, 3) the relationship between stratum affiliation and class consciousness, and 4) intra and inter-generation status mobility.
Data were obtained by examination of a stratified random sample of about 2, 000 adult males.
It is assumed that stratum affiliation is determined by social status, and it is further assumed that three major indices of the latter are occupation, education and income. Of these three indices, the latter two are susceptible of numerical expression. Occupation, on the other hand, cannot so readily be expressed in such form. Three methods of hier-archizing occupational categories are used : A) scaling by other objective indices of status, i. e., education, income, property, etc. ; B) respondents ranking of 30 selected occupations ; and C) sociologists ranking of all possible combinations of 38 occupations, three educational categories, and four income groups.
All methods of scaling occupational categories yield virtually similar results. Method B measurement reveals the occupational status hierarchy in descending order as 1) Professional, 2) Managerial, 3) Clerical, 4) Agricultural, 5) Service, 6) Industrial, 7) Merchandiser, 8) Transportation, 9) Mining, and 10) Unskilled Labor.
When divided by Method C into nine strata ranging from Upper-Upper to Lower-Lower, a plurality falls in the Middle-Middle and Lower-Middle strata (44 %).
By self-identification most respondents fall in the lower three strata (41 %). Whereas 77 % of those so identifying themselves also regard themselves as “Workers” in class affiliation, only 38 % of those who identify themselves in the Upper and Upper-Middle strata are willing to identify themselves as “Capitalists”.
The data further suggest that stratification patterns differ both by locality and age strata.
The material shows that there is a high degree of stability in occupation among persons beginning work as Professional, Managerial, and Industrial Workers, and a corresponding instability among persons beginning work as Merchandisers.
As regards inter-generation mobility between respondent's generation and the preceding one, the former shows higher educational experience. Whereas Industrial and Clerical occupations predominate in the former, Agrarian and Managerial occupations are most numerous in the latter. In 23.1 % of caces there is correspondence between respondent's occupation and that of his father. When viewed across three generations, only 7.4 % of cases show respondent, respondent's father, and respondent's grandfather all following the same occupation.
Sixty-two percent of respondents evaluate the position of their own generation as worst-off among the three generations. 15 % consider their own generation best-off. 40 consider grandfathers' generation best-off. As Method C indicates grandfathers' generation is slightly lower in status than respondents' generation, a discrepancy exists between respondents' subjective appraisal and objective facts.

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Though class is an important social fact in contemporary society, each member of society does not necessarily possess a class-consciousness. What determines class consciousness is the complication of economic system of the society and psychological factors of the individuals corresponding to it. The condition of this complication is different according to the social situation people live in.
Operating within this frame of reference, a survey of class-consciousness was conducted in a geographically isolated mountain village of several hundred families in the midwestern part of the Izu Peninsula.
The method of conducting this survey was as follows :
(1) Residents from all social strata who were willing to cooperate with the survey made estimates of strata differentiation in terms of the standard of living. Strata were then established in terms of the standard of living by combing these estimates with certain objective economic indices.
(2) A through examination was made of the tensions and conflicts occuring in the past few years between individuals and families.
(3) Then attention was concentrated upon tension situations caused by status differentiation between the lower and upper strata and originating in the lower stratum.
(4) Finally the family relationships and past incidents within the family of those who were actors in present tension situations were subjected to analysis.
Through this operation, it became evident that :
(1) It is rare that lowest stratum individuals give rise to situations of tension against upper stratum individuals for economic reasons alone.
(2) Considering the economical factor alone, individuals of the lower stratum who live independently are apt to originate tension against the upper stratum.
(3) Those who are highly dependent upon the upper stratum everyday life do not originate situations of tension.
(4) When the life histories of the family members of the lower stratum individuals who have caused situations of tension in the past are examined, in almost every such family, delinquency in such forms as arson or theft is found.
(5) Families, some of whose members have committed such delinquent acts tend to have interaction with each other.
n short, in this highly isolated mountain village so-called class-consciousness is faint. In its place there seems to be substituted a consciousness socio-pathological conflicts. It is conjectured that the reason for this might lie in the facts of a high income derived from forestry and a higher standard of living than is found in many other mountain village on the Izu Peninsula.

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A survey of population mobility was made in a village in Tochigi Prefecture. First, social stratification in the surveyed village was analyzed. Secondly, the relationship between stratum affiliation of farm families and internal differentiation of the stream of population outflow was investigated.
The village studied is a purely agricultural village of a type commonly found in rural Japan. Structurally it is differentiated in a stratum of stabilized farmers and a stratum of poor farmers. The former stratum has as its nucleus several agricultural land-owners, and its members cultivates more than 1.5 cho (about 3.8 acres). The latter stratum consists of tenant-farmers who must find supplentary income outside of agriculture. The former stratum is the ruling group in the village, the latter the ruled. Between the two strata there still remains consinerable rigidity in the status hierarchy.
There seems to exist a relationship between stratum affiliation and family composition. The size of family in upper stratum whose farming seems to be stabilized is large, and its composition is complicated. As regards marriage, it has been found that : (a) the higher the status of a family, the fewer the marriages of daughters at a young age into adjacent villages. (b) The outflow of population to urban area due to the marriage of daughters occurs more frequently in the lower stratum than the upper, and (a) in the lower stratum, there are many instances of marriage where considerable age discrepancy exists.
Conditions of occupational outmigration to urban area differ with social and economic status of the family as determined by 1) the amount of land owned by the family and 2) whether the land is owned or tenant cultivated. For example, there is a positive relationship between low age of outmigration and low stratum affiliation. Also the lower the stratum affiliation of occupational outmigrants the larger the percentage of those who possess only primary school education.
Outmigrants from the upper and lower strata have different occupational positions after outmigration. Only upper stratum outmigrants who are highly educated can adjust to the conditions of urban living and seek better living condition. The other outmigrants cannot do this. The rarely change their working place or occupation. Usually the outmigrants to urban areas from lower stratum families have a very different time.
This survey would seem to indicate that studies of outmigration from rural to urban areas must examine not only gross figures of population shift, but also the varying social strata contributions to the stream of outmigrat ions.

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This article is a preliminary report of a joint survery conducted in 1952 by seven investigators including the authors.
The questionnaire used consisted of six sections, e.g. : (a) items relating to the authoritarian personality, (b) politico-economic orientation, (c) class identification, (d) social grading of occupation, (e) spatial mobility, (f) face-sheet.
The population from which the sample for this survey was drawn is the adult male population of approximately 2, 500, 000 individuals living in the urban districts of the Tokyo metropolis.
Considerations which entered into the decision concerning sample size were : (a) the precision of the estimate, (b) the precision of the test of significance, and (c) the limitation of the time and financial resources. The size thus determined wes 700.
Stratified sub-sampling and double sampling were used. The population was divided into 70 strata according to the type of industry and social characteristics of each districts. One primary sampling unit (cho or chôme-street) from each stratum was selected by probability-proportionately and from there 70 primary sampling units 40 male adults in proportion to the size of each stratum were obtained. These adults were again stratified according to age, occupation, and the characteristics of their dwelling place, and the final sample of 700 was obtained at a sampling ratio of 4.5 Population from which the sample was drawn was inferred from the registry of family cards.
Fieldwork was conducted through the use of the house-to-house interview method and 534 person's in the sample (%) were interviewed. In order to estimate the effect of failure to interview a portion of the sample, the age-and occupation-composition of the non-interviewed group was examined and the “quasi-re-survey” method was utilized. This examination shows that deviation due to non-interviewing of a portion of the sample was negligible.
The theoretical framework and the results of this survey will be reported in the following issues by individual invertigators.

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