Japanese Sociological Review
Online ISSN : 1884-2755
Print ISSN : 0021-5414
ISSN-L : 0021-5414
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Volume 65, Issue 1
Displaying 1-18 of 18 articles from this issue
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Presidential Address
Articles
  • Comparative Regional Analysis of Governance:
    Dynamics of Relations in Resource Management for Porcelain in Japan
    Ariko OTA
    2014 Volume 65 Issue 1 Pages 16-31
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: July 04, 2015
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.65.16
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This study analyzes the political and social contexts of industrialization through a comparative analysis of policies and institutional arrangements for porcelain production and distribution in Tokugawa Japan. By introducing the concept of “resource-governance,” this paper examines how and in what context specific arrangements were formulated that defined the ways of organizing resources for porcelain production and distribution. The analysis shows regional variations in resource-governance conditioned by the different ways and degrees of involvement by regional political authorities and those who were engaged in porcelain production and distribution. While the regional authority made a strong claim over resources for porcelain production and distribution in one region, producers and merchants appealed to the political authorities to legitimate their interests and activities in other regions. This comparative analysis illuminates multiple forms of governing resources for porcelain production and distribution that shaped the variant paths to industrialization.
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  • Examining the “Unskewing” of Participants in Civic Activities:
    A Comparative Analysis of SSM1995 and SSP-I2010
    Haruyo MITANI
    2014 Volume 65 Issue 1 Pages 32-46
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: July 04, 2015
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.65.32
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This study investigates whether, among the Japanese people, a wide range of social strata participate in civic activities. Empirical studies on the determinants of civic participation among the Japanese people have suggested that the tendency for individuals of a predominantly higher socioeconomic status to participate in civic activities has decreased in recent years. Can we conclude, as contemporary civil society theories have assumed, that this decreased tendency equates to the phenomenon of the “unskewing” of participants in civic activities? To answer this question, this study examines trends in the correlation between socioeconomic status and civic participation by a comparative analysis of random SSM1995 and SSP-I2010 data representative of the Japanese people.
    The main findings are as follows. First, education had a positive effect on engagement in civic activities in both 1995 and 2010. Second, managers and people with high incomes tended to participate in 1995, whereas no such tendency was observed in 2010. Third, unemployed individuals were more likely to participate in 1995 and less likely to participate in 2010. These results suggest that the phenomenon of the “unskewing” of participants in civic activities has not necessarily occurred, and that less-educated and unemployed people are less likely to participate in civic engagement today.
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  • Immigrants' Integration as Security Reaction:
    The Case of Germany in the 2000s
    Hideaki SEKINO
    2014 Volume 65 Issue 1 Pages 47-61
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: July 04, 2015
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.65.47
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This article discusses integration policy for immigrants in Germany from the standpoint of “security,” a concept that includes both public and social security. In recent integration policy, criteria for national membership have not been based on valuing ethnic homogeneity but rather on liberal democratic principles, such as democracy, the principle of the legal state, equality between men and women, and the separation of church and state. In addition, integration can only be achieved when immigrants obey the socioeconomic principles of self-governance. These principles apply to the whole population, regardless of national origin. However, as economic and ontological insecurity increase in an age characterized by liquid or late modernity, public authorities have formulated integration policy based on the securitization of migration. As they reform the welfare state, public authorities have tried to exclude immigrants that lack the capability for self-governance, staking a position of zero tolerance against immigrants involved in terrorism. The knowledge, information, and practices of security professionals, such as public security services and the police, play a significant role in the securitization of migration. In accordance with the roles played by public security professionals, immigrants are not only criticized for their lack of moral obligations, but are also controlled as the target population of public security. Thus, German integration policy may be prone to leading to the exclusion of immigrants rather than to their integration.
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  • Placing Memory and the Preservation of Atomic Ruins:
    A Study on the Preservation of Shinkozen Elementary School, Nagasaki
    Naohiro FUKAYA
    2014 Volume 65 Issue 1 Pages 62-79
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: July 04, 2015
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.65.62
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This article examines the social context within which decisions regarding the preservation of atomic ruins are made, based on an analysis of the preservation of Shinkozen Elementary School, Nagasaki.
    The analysis reveals that civic groups and Kozen district residents attached different meanings to the preservation of the structure. Civic groups cited the substantial historical importance of the school and the unfortunate removal of a number of atomic ruins since the 1980s, and feared that the demolition of this second-rank atomic ruin by the city would set a precedent. Such civic groups also argued that retaining history in tangible form was essential.
    By contrast, Kozen district residents considered the Shinkozen Elementary School structure “their old school.” The memory of the building as a key first-aid station and as a temporary medical center for atomic bomb survivors exists only in historical records. Local residents thus wished to memorialize this history in the form of peace education and a yearly memorial service. The residents placed greater value on peace education, “the yearly memorial service”, and historical records, than on the preservation of the atomic ruin itself. Local residents desired the construction of a new museum to commemorate “their old school” and house historical records pertaining to the school's role as a first-aid station during the atomic bombing.
    This conflict between local residents and civic groups stemmed from the diversity of memories attached to the relic. Our findings reveal that the social context surrounding the preservation of atomic ruins reflects the particular life histories and perspectives of the people involved. This case study offers an important frame through which to observe the sociology of war ruins.
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  • Urbanism and Personal Networks:
    Multilevel Analyses of Kin, Neighbors, and Friends
    Ken HARADA, Hidehiro SUGISAWA
    2014 Volume 65 Issue 1 Pages 80-96
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: July 04, 2015
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.65.80
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    The effects of urbanism on personal networks were investigated through multilevel analysis, using models containing variables measured at different hierarchical levels. The contextual effects of urbanism on the number of intimate kin, neighbors, and friends, as well as the spatial dispersion of such networks, were examined after controlling for individual-level variables. The participants were people aged 25 years and older (n=4,676) living in 30 local communities in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba Prefectures. The results indicated the following. (1) Community differences in the total number of kin disappeared after controlling for such variables. However, urbanism was associated with the spatial dispersion of kinship. The number of local kin decreased with increasing urbanism, suggesting that kinship networks in metropolitan communities were geographically dispersed and were selective rather than normative. (2) The number of neighbors decreased with increasing urbanism. (3) Community differences in the total number of friends disappeared after controlling for individual-level variables. However, urbanism was associated with the spatial dispersion of friendships: increasing urbanism was associated with an increased number of friends living at mid-range distances. These results suggest that urbanism promotes the accessibility of friendship resources that are spread throughout urban areas.
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  • The Logic of Limiting Property Rights to Rebuild the Order of the Community:
    Landowners' Views of the Lowland Forest
    Yusuke HIRAI
    2014 Volume 65 Issue 1 Pages 97-115
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: July 04, 2015
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.65.97
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This study reveals the logic of the temporary limits a landowners' organization placed on its members' own property rights for the preservation of the forest and to protect their own livelihoods.
    The case area is located in the suburb of a city, where development pressure is extremely high. Generally, landowners do not cooperate with nature regeneration projects and nature conservation activities in such areas. However, the landowners' organization in the case area agreed to limit its members' own property rights, and conditionally agreed to such a project.
    The landowners' organization agreed to limit property rights based on the logic of reestablishing social order in the local community. In the case area, dioxin contamination in the ‘90s created economic and psychological gaps between landowners who leased or sold their properties to industrial waste disposal companies, who were responsible for the dioxin problems, and those who did not. As a group, the landowners’ organization decided to conditionally agree to limit its members' property rights, because the proposed project potentially reduced the gaps among them.
    As the analysis of this case demonstrates, the local community's “rebuilding of order” is rooted in a motivation to reduce gaps between members of the landowners. The landowners attempted to personally restrict their own property rights for the sake of the protection of their own livelihoods and the forest in the area.
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  • The Effect of Active Labor Market Policies on Suicide Rates:
    A Panel Data Analysis for 26 OECD Countries, 1980-2007
    Haruka SHIBATA
    2014 Volume 65 Issue 1 Pages 116-133
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: July 04, 2015
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.65.116
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    In Japan, it is reported that the number of deaths by suicide caused by poverty or isolation have increased since 1998. The Japanese government, which is required to respect citizens' right to life by Article 13 of the Constitution, has a responsibility to prevent involuntary suicides by implementing social policies. What kind of social policies are effective in preventing suicides in Japan?
    In our study, we focused on active labor market policies (ALMPs), which provide job training, employment assistance, and employment subsidies. ALMPs have the function of socially and economically including isolated poor people by anchoring them to others (assistance staff or training participants) or the labor market. If those who are most at risk of suicide are isolated poor people, can ALMPs prevent their suicides in Japan? Or, conversely, do ALMPs tend to increase their risk of suicide? This study aimed to answer these questions empirically.
    This study analyzed broader panel data using a more elaborate estimation model than those used in previous studies. The results indicated that the rise or fall of the suicide rate was explained mainly by the rise or fall of the unemployment rate (i.e., the increase or decrease in the number of poor people), the rise or fall of the divorce rate, the fall or rise of the crude marriage rate (i.e., the increase or decrease in isolated people), and the fall or rise of public expenditure on ALMPs (i.e., neglect or inclusion of isolated poor people). In Japan, these factors explained about 10-32% of the change in the suicide rate from the rate in the previous year between 1991 and 2006. By contrast, other kinds of social policy apart from ALMPs did not show a significant suicide-preventive effect.
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