Normative questions have been rarely raised in stratification studies as in other sociological fields of studies. This is still the case even in the current feverishness on inequality problems. The existence or the expansion of inequality is denounced by the taken-for-granted assumption that it is simply bad, without any theoretical examination on why and to what extent the inequality is undesirable. On the other hand, the once celebrated functionalistic stratification theory had unintendedly provided a normative rationalization of stratification, but did not work out it purposefully. Contrastingly, normative egalitarian theories have been enthusiastically developed by contemporary liberalism. However, many of the liberal egalitarian theories, in which Luck-egalitarianism is a typical one, show two theoretically deficient features, “neglect of production” and “lack of consideration for consequences”. This is not an exception. Most theories on normatively desirable distribution rule are characterized by “Manna-type” principle in the sense that goods to be distributed are treated as given from somewhere else. In this paper, the normative question what is a desirable distribution rule is investigated as the question; given a certain production function in society, under what kind of a distribution rule a desirable consequence in terms of individuals' benefits can be brought forth as Nash equilibrium when individuals rationally choose their own production activities under that distribution rule?

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     This paper proposes normative theory of “reciprocity-based” equality. It is constructed to be an alternative of “right-based” equality theory. The theory is subsumed under three points below: 1) interactive/local, 2) other-regarded, 3) other-oriented responsibility. It is often assumed that reciprocity-principle is incompatible with distributive equality. I refute this conjecture and demonstrate that reciprocity can be compatible with distributive equality, especially on the idea of reciprocity as value.

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     The theme of “class identification” has been theoretically discussed in the studies on social stratification in postwar Japan, and we consider the Fararo-Kosaka Model (FK Model) as characterizing such studies. However, the FK Model did not deal with the changes in the distribution of class identification brought about by changes in occupational structure. This article aims to clarify the mechanism underlying the changes in the distribution of class identification, in order to overcome the limitations of the FK Model. As a result, it is shown that the relation between changes in occupational structure and changes in the distribution of class identification can be rationally explained under the assumption that the individual that inherited status from his/her parent tends to strongly commit to his/her social class. At the same time, it is confirmed that the mechanism for class identification is empirically supported by the Social Stratification and Social Mobility Survey data.

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     In this paper we generalize the Breen and Goldthorpe model of relative risk aversion hypothesis that explains the class differentials in educational attainment, in order to specify the condition that an advancement rate of children from service class origin exceeds that of working class origin. By expressing an advancement rate as an explicit function of parameters of a model, we also analyze an inequality of educational attainment by odds ratio that can be expressed as a function of theoretical advancement rate. Our model shows the condition that the odds ratio increases. Moreover, we reformulate a process of succeeding educational transition and analyze a function of theoretical advancement rate. We investigate the condition that the effect of class origin declines across transitions. One of the conditions is that median of distribution of subjective probability of success decrease as education level proceeds. This may reduce advancement rate for service class origin. The other condition is that the advancement rate for working class origin increases as much as that of service class origin when student from working class origin prefer service class to working class. These mechanisms may cause decline of class origin effect.

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     Occupation is one of the major factors impacting our lives. In Japan, the Occupational Prestige Score or occupational categories have been used as occupational indexes. However, no occupational index reflecting job content exists. This article focuses on job complexity and how to formulate a job complexity score.
     Data from the 4th edition of Dictionary of Occupational Titles(DOT) and Japan Survey on Information Society (JIS) are used to formulate the Job Complexity Score. This score is formulated in three different ways. Moreover, we investigate the attributes or attitudes that job complexity has an effect on using the proposed job complexity score. Using multiple regression analysis, we found that job complexity has an effect on income, status identification, and the perception of unfairness, even after controlling the occupational prestige score. These results show the validity and effectiveness of the proposed job complexity score.

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     The paper investigates the possibility of cultural polarization in increasingly nonlocal societies, assuming that 1) agents have a large range of interaction, and 2) the similarity between agents is not crucial for an interaction to occur. Plurality information feedback, a filtering effect, and multi-copy of features are identified as candidates for inducing polarization. We show that rapid segregation of minorities by any of these three candidate effects at an early stage makes it possible to observe polarization. In a society where agents have a large range of interaction, polarization is observed as diasporas, and a few subcultures can survive. If the importance of the similarity for interactions decreases, a society can reach equilibrium faster and less cultural heterogeneity remains in it. Excessively large effects of the mass media, in some cases, disturb a society in the sense that it takes longer to settle down in a stable state, but greatly contribute to convergence in other cases. A formal proof showing that reaching equilibrium is equivalent to having a similarity of either zero or one with any accessible agent is provided. Here, we investigate equilibrium states, not states arising at a predetermined large step in computer simulations.

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     This paper examines the relationship between the social characteristics (heterogeneity and size of community) and the levels of social capital in spa resort areas in Japan. The data is obtained from 56 areas. In each area, data on inns that belong to a local inn union have been collected. As these inns have large influence in their local areas, they are interpreted as representatives of the area. Heterogeneity in each area is measured by the Gini coefficient of the inns' accommodations. The size of a spa resort is measured by the total number of inns within the resort area. We examine three different types of social capital: activities of self-government, activities of inn unions, and activities of the local festival. The aims of the activities of self-government are very wide and general, while the aim of the activities of inn unions is specific, i.e., to increase profit. The aim of the local festival is to succeed as an annual religious event. By conducting regression analyses, we obtain the following findings: (1) there is a negative association between the Gini coefficient and the level of self-government activities, and (2) there is a negative association between union size and the level of activities of inn unions. The implications of these results are discussed by considering the range of aims and communication costs.

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     In this article, we proposed the necessity of archival science in social research and the management of the social research data, based on the experience of the SORD data archive project. First, we insisted that the preservation of the social research data should be done by the researchers themselves, and a standard rule for that is required in the academic society. Second, we clarified that the secondary analysis of a qualitative research, which will find one aspect of the object society that did not come into view in the recognition frame of the research at that time, become difficult if the researchers at that time wouldn't leave the accurate records of the research. Third, we point out the importance of the collection of material, which include the material indicating process of research, the information of the research group organization and the management method of social research, the structural factor and the historical backgrounds of the object society, in order to enable retrieving the process of the formation of the hypotheses of the research group at that time. To accomplish the above purpose, the establishment of the archival science in social research is indispensable. And, it can be said that it is necessary to achieve cooperation with the museology whose historians are dominant now.

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