Dear colleagues and friends,

please allow me to draw your attention to a book we recently published with Routledge as part of the SSP-project (http://ssp.hus.osaka-u.ac.jp/).
(For a discount flyer, please scroll to the end of this announcement.)

Social Change in Japan, 1989-2019: Social Status, Social Consciouness, Attitutes and Values
Edited by Carola Hommerich, Naoki Sudo, Toru Kikkawa

Book Description
Based on extensive survey data, this book examines how the population of Japan has experienced and processed three decades of rapid social change from the highly egalitarian high growth economy of the 1980s to the economically stagnating and demographically shrinking gap society of the 2010s. It discusses social attitudes and values towards, for example, work, gender roles, family, welfare and politics, highlighting certain subgroups which have been particularly affected by societal changes. It explores social consciousness and concludes that although many Japanese people identify as middle class, their reasons for doing so have changed over time, with the result that the optimistic view prevailing in the 1980s, confident of upward mobility, has been replaced by people having a much more realistic view of their social status.

Table of Content
Introduction 1. Understanding Heisei: Anchoring amidst Transformation Carola Hommerich, Naoki Sudo, Toru Kikkawa

Part 1: Deciphering the 'Middle' - Subtle Change Behind the Scenes
1. Images of Social Stratification and the "Gap Society" Hiroshi Kanbayashi
2. Change or No Change? The Complex Relationship between Status Groups and Status Identification in Heisei Japan Ken Tanioka

Part 2: Adapting to change - Social consciousness over the Heisei Period
1. Adapting to new realities? Educational Disparity in Mechanisms of Status Identification among Young Japanese Ryotaro Hazama
2. Civil society: Who participates? Haruyo Mitani and Makoto Hiramatsu
3. Support for Government Redistribution Programs in the Age of Welfare Retrenchment: Workers' Changing Attitudes Kikuko Nagayoshi
4. Employment status as social status: Changes in the life satisfaction of regular and non-regular employees Yuto Hashizume
5. Conservative Youth? Why do young people become authoritarian and support the LDP? Mitsuru Matsutani
6. Why do married women in Japan support unequal gender norm of "working and caring? Mari Higuchi

Conclusion 1. Japan after the Heisei Period - Where are we heading? Naoki Sudo, Carola Hommerich and Toru Kikkawa

For more information:
https://tinyurl.com/yyjv53p4

Discount flyer
Unfortunately, the hardcover version of the book is very pricey. The ebook is somewhat more accessible.
For a 20% discount on the hardcover or the ebook, please use the flyer which I link here.
Social Change in Japan - Discount flyer.pdf
Please feel free to email me, in case the link should not work: hommerich@sophia.ac.jp

We hope our research finds your interest!

Sincere regards,

Carola Hommerich

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Carola Hommerich, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology
Graduate School of Human Sciences
Sophia University
Email: hommerich@sophia.ac.jp
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Recently published:
Carola Hommerich, Naoki Sudo & Toru Kikkawa (eds.), 2021: Social Change in Japan, 1989-2019: Social Status, Social Consciousness, Attitudes and Values. (Routledge Contemporary Japan Series)

Carola Hommerich & Toru Kikkawa,2019: Movement behind the Scenes: The Quiet Transformation of Status Identification in Japan, Social Science Japan Journal
https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyy041

Nate Breznau & Carola Hommerich, 2018: The limits of inequality: Public support for social policy across rich democracies, International Journal of Social Welfare
https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12341

David Chiavacci & Carola Hommerich (eds.), 2017: Social Inequality in Post-Growth Japan.Transformation during Economic and Demographic Stagnation. (Routledge Contemporary Japan Series)