The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of expanding child-rearing support measures and increasing taxes to secure the financial resources of married women with children who desire to give birth again. Accordingly, a factorial survey was used. Existing research in this field has considered the effects of expanding child-rearing support measures without considering the security of financial resources. However, based on the government’s current measures to counter low fertility, this study contributes to the existing literature by reporting the results of a factorial survey regarding the tax increases necessary to expand child-rearing support measures. The factors used in this survey were five child-rearing support measures, including an increase in the allowance for children and a tax increase. Vignette cards based on these factors were presented to survey respondents, and additional childbearing desires were investigated when the measures described therein were implemented. Analyzing the individual data from the survey administered to married females with children provided the following three results. First, among the child-rearing support measures, those that reduce the financial burden of child-rearing have a relatively larger effect on improving the childbearing desire. Second, if taxes increase, the desire declines significantly. Third, increasing taxes while expanding child-rearing support measures alleviates some of the effects of measures that improve the desire for give birth again. The findings of this study suggest ways to deal with low fertility in Japan. Furthermore, the research method employed in this study can be applied to a wide range of policies, such as social welfare.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the idea of Utopia and “Retrotopia” in Zygmunt Bauman’s late thoughts and reveal its significance in the realm of critical social theory, through a reinterpretation of the meanings of “past” and “future.” Bauman related Utopia to “the future that never comes” and “Retrotopia” to nostalgia floating around contemporary society. In previous research, the future argued by Bauman has predominantly been comprehended as a proactive attitude toward social change, with some influence from Antonio Gramsci or Karl Manheim. These studies share the premise that usual understandings and socially shared symbolic meanings about time could encompass what Bauman calls “past” and “future.”

Bauman’s descriptions, however, point to a radically different direction in which the identification of “I” is a central matter to be considered in relation to time. Bauman identifies Utopia, or “the future that never comes,” in relation to the duality of the self that enables the self to take responsibility for the Other, referring to Emmanuel Levinasʟ idea of “the self” that vacates oneself. Bauman’s critics of narcissism among his thoughts regarding “Retrotopia,” is grounded by the above idea of Utopia. This prevents social theory from an overreliance on witness testimony regarding contemporary social issues regarding identity and interpret such social phenomena from the perspective of the brutal ambivalence of identification.

The aim of this study was to investigate the determination structure for job quality（routine task intensity）and the linkage between job quality and wages in Japan. The dual labor market hypothesis suggests differences in job quality and wage level between the primary and secondary sectors. However, the relevant literature does not clarify two issues. The first is whether firm size determines job quality in the dual labor market. The other is whether firm size creates excessive wages that cannot be cleared by the market when controlling for job quality. In this study, these two issues were analyzed from the point of view of the efficiency wage theory, employing the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies（PIAAC）.

The results of the empirical analysis indicate the following. First, except for the branch dummy variable, firm-size variables did not determine job quality. Rather, job quality was dependent on individual employee variables, occupation, numeracy skills, and the type of labor contract. Second, even when controlling for individual employee variables, firm-size variables were found to independently raise wage levels. From these findings, firm size seems to be an indicator of the efficiency wage theory; along with the type of labor contract, it is a significant factor, in the dual labor market.

The relationship between religion and women`s agency has been reexamined, as many societies are experiencing a shake-up of the traditional gender order because of the influence of globalization. The central question in this discussion is whether religion molds women's bodies into existing gender roles or empowers them to act otherwise. With these questions in mind, this paper compares three theories of “agency,” referring to women's studies in contemporary Islamic societies.

First, post-structuralism focuses on the most vulnerable women in society and attempts to find their agency in various resistance tactics that they use to counter the pressures of social structures, including religion. Second, the theory of selfdisciplining, which anthropologist Saba Mahmood advocates, targets middle-class women in non-Western countries and discusses how women's agency develops from “piety to Islam” ―not from being free from religion, as liberal feminists expect. Third, post-traditionalism, which Satoshi Adachi formulated based on Anthony Giddensʟ social theory, focuses on the second generation of Muslim women in Western countries. This theory finds women`s agency in their daily efforts to construct a positive religious identity and join the Western world as Muslim citizens by reinterpreting Islamic teaching.

In the concluding section, I discuss that it is a more useful strategy for postcolonial feminists to use multiple methodologies to understand the diverse experiences and agencies of Muslim women with different interests and priorities, while post-traditionalism can include a broader range of subjects for research in contemporary society, where information technology and women`s higher education are increasingly prevalent.