著者

川辺 平八郎

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2, pp.220-223, 1999-11-10 (Released:2018-04-01)

著者

鈴木 亘

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.14, pp.118-129, 2005-09-30 (Released:2018-04-01)

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This study focused on the anti-economic measures of the Osaka welfare allowance program and calculated its effect and influence on the local economy. Using the example of Osaka, I performed calculations with concrete data of Osaka. As a result, I determined that in 2003, the welfare allowance of 206.0 billion yen finally caused demand increase in the local economy of 345.3 billion yen. On the other hand, a reduction of income taxes only had an economic influence of 241.7 billion yen, and also, public construction spending was only 337.3 billion yen. Therefore, welfare allowances are understood to be a superior policy for stimulating the economy. Furthermore, when calculating the effect upon creating employment, only 25,474 employment positions were created by public constructing spending, and 19,560 employment positions were created by a reduction of income taxes, whereas the welfare allowance program created 27,685 employment positions.

著者

六波羅 詩朗

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.18, pp.170-174, 2007-09-30 (Released:2018-04-01)

著者

萩原 久美子

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, pp.209-230, 2006-03-31 (Released:2018-04-01)

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There has been much discussion regarding the measures required to disseminate child-care leave or family leave in the workplace, and correct gender disparities found in its application. However, "corporate climate," which has been pointed out as a barrier to said objectives, has not been analyzed with sufficient attention given to the dynamics that constitute it in the workplace. More importantly, it is a fact that the multi-layered gender issue that is both institutionally and historically embedded in child-care leave in Japan has yet to be scrutinized. This paper describes the bargaining process of the child-care leave contract negotiated by the Japan Telecommunications Workers' Union (in 1965), representing the initial case of child-care leave in Japan. This momentous case has not been studied independently, even though it is referred to as the pioneering work-family challenge. Thus, with little known about its actual process, the background of this contract is perceived simply as a response to the needs of working women who numbers rapidly increased in 1960s. This perception is based only on the domestic gender division of labor. With the main focus being on the forepart of the process or earlier discussions within the union, and with attention given to the gender dynamics among members of the workplace, this paper presents the following arguments. First, the concept and design of policy were devised from the idea of job security for telephone operators as a measure taken by the labor side to counter restructuring and technological innovations. Secondly, what constituted "family responsibilities" arose from motherhood ideology based on the modern family model that proliferated in the 1960s. Accordingly, the issue of leave itself has developed to include gender constraints within its application.

著者

阿部 彩

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.16, pp.251-275, 2006-09-30 (Released:2018-04-01)

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This study is one of the first ever to attempt to measure the extent of relative deprivation in Japan. Its aim is to establish a relative deprivation scale, closely following the methods developed by Townsend (1979) and others and taking into account differences between the cultures of the U.K. and Japan. Then, the study analyzes the relationship between relative deprivation and income poverty, and individual and household characteristics. The study uses two datasets from two nationally conducted surveys. One identified socially perceived necessities, as developed by Mack and Lansley (1985). The other established a relative deprivation scale using the necessities that were identified by the former. Applying the relative deprivation scale, this study revealed three major findings. First, under a certain threshold household income, the relative deprivation scale increases dramatically, as is the case in the United Kingdom and other countries. This threshold is around 4 to 5 million yen per year. Second, those whose lifestyle deviates from the social norm experience a higher risk of relative deprivation. In particular, single people in their 30s to 50s, people with members of their household who are ill, and single mothers exhibited high levels of relative deprivation. Third, young people are found to be at high risk of relative deprivation. The deprivation scale is highest for those in their 20s, relatively low for those in their 30s to 60s, and rises again for those in their 70s. Comparing elderly people (greater than 60 years old) with younger people (20 to 60 years old), both the prevalence and depth of deprivation was higher for the young, even for those in the same income range. It is too early to draw conclusions for public assistance or other social security systems from the results of this study. However, this study is an important first step in extending conventional poverty research which use only income or consumption data, toward understanding the complexity of poverty.

著者

田村 哲樹

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌

巻号頁・発行日

no.16, pp.51-65, 2006-09-30

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Since the 1990s, there has been a discernable trend toward welfare reform in advanced democracies despite the difficulties associated with welfare retrenchment. Together with this movement toward welfare reform has emerged much debate on the concept of citizenship. This paper has two aims. First, I seek to classify some of the principles of contemporary welfare reform from the perspective of citizenship rights and obligations. There are at least two conceptions of citizenship: the right-centered conception and the obligation-centered conception. By adding a left-right nexus to this right-obligation nexus, I create four conceptions of citizenship as they relate to welfare reform. These are (1) the left-libertarian conception of citizenship (basic income), (2) the right-libertarian conception (negative income tax), (3) the right-communitarian conception (workfare), and (4) the left-communitarian conception (activation). Recent citizenship debates have exhibited a definite tendency to emphasize obligations rather than rights, especially the obligation to work. For this reason workfare and activation are more popular ideas for reform than basic income and negative income tax. There is an important difference between workfare and activation. However, it seems certain that the principles which emphasize work as an obligation have had a great influence on recent citizenship debates. My second aim is to explain why we should not regard the work obligation as the most important aspect of citizenship obligations. In doing so, I make two points. First, if we acknowledge that the significance of citizenship is in obligation, we should take into account not only work but also other obligations and activities. Referring to T. Fitzpatrick's concept of diverse reciprocity, I argue for recognizing the significance of both unpaid care work and active political citizenship. In recent feminist debates on citizenship, unpaid care work has come to be seen as one of the most important components of citizenship. By active political citizenship, I mean the political citizenship that goes beyond suffrage and is located in collective action. Some radical democrats such as J. Habermas and G. Delanty emphasize such active political citizenship. Today we cannot assume the boundaries of citizenship as given. The ability to define citizenship seems to have become increasingly important, and this will be possible only through political citizenship. Second, if it is the case that citizenship is more that just the work obligation, we must also think about the new principles and institutions necessary both for the democratization of welfare and for welfare that encourages diverse reciprocity. Regarding the former, I focus on 'deliberative welfare' (Fitzpatrick), and for the latter, I refer to public policy, such as parental leave for men, and basic income, which has the potential to increase the time spent engaging in social and political activities outside of work.

著者

居神 浩

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.12, pp.182-185, 2004-09-30 (Released:2018-04-01)

著者

白波瀬 佐和子

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.19, pp.3-20, 2008-03-31 (Released:2018-04-01)

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The purpose of this study is to examine the degree of income inequality among households with small children in comparative perspective and to explore what kind of family policies for supporting childrearing should be provided in contemporary Japan. The paper consists of two parts. The first section presents empirical analyses on the economic conditions of households with small children in industrial nations. The countries which I analyze are the United States, France, Sweden, and Japan. The degree of income inequality among households with small children has greatly increased since the mid-1980s, and a particularly high rate of poverty among single-mother households was found in Japan. Even though many mothers are in the labor force, the poverty rate among Japanese single-mother households is much higher than those in other nations. The high poverty rate in Japan probably comes from the low wages of single mothers. Since the labor force participation rate among Japanese single mothers is high, work alone does not seem to prevent them from sliding into poverty. The second section examines people's attitudes toward childrearing policies in the United States, France, Sweden, South Korea (included only in the attitude survey), and Japan. The types of childrearing-related policies that are considered important by many Japanese people are economic support such as child allowances, diversity in childcare services, and reduction in education expenses. In Japan, people show similar tendencies in attitudes toward childrearing policies regardless of household income. In other countries, however, people's preferences in childrearing policies differ according to the level of household income. Those in low-income households tend to prefer cash allowances, while those in high-income households tend to favor flexible work practices and tax-financed reductions of childrearing costs. The extent of income inequality in Japan is as high as the United States, but people's attitudes are not stratified by their level of economic well-being.

著者

川口 章

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.14, pp.18-37, 2005-09-30 (Released:2018-04-01)

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The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, we show the relationship between female labor force participation (FLFP) and the total fertility rate (TFR) based on various statistics and data sets; second, the statistical facts are explained theoretically and show that the key to understanding this relationship is a reconciliation between work and family; and third, we compare the work/family reconciliation policies of OECD countries and discuss the causes of the low and declining TFR in Japan. The relationship between FLFP and the TFR is as follows. 1) Data from various countries show that there was a negative correlation between FLFP and the TFR in the 1970s, but it turned positive in the mid-1980s. 2) Time-series data show that FLFP increased and the TFR declined during the last thirty years in most OECD countries. Countries that have strong negative correlations between the changes in FLFP and the TFR are suffering from low TFR. 3) Japanese micro-data show that the probability of childbirth is negatively correlated with female employment. The childcare-leave system and childcare centers tend to increase the probability of childbirth. 4) Japanese micro-data also show that the probability of female participation is negatively correlated with the existence of children under school age, but is positively correlated with children over seven years of age. The supply of childcare centers increases the probability of female participation. The household production model explains the relationship between FLFP and the TFR as follows. The substitutability between a mother's childcare and childcare services outside the household, and also that between a mother's childcare and a father's childcare, are important determinants of the relationship between FLFP and the TFR. Although an increase in FLFP reduces female childcare, its effect on fertility will be minimized if childcare outside the household and male childcare compensate for the decline in female childcare. Work/family reconciliation policies increase the substitutability between female childcare and childcare services outside the household. The above conjecture is supported by statistical facts. 1) Countries that have solid work/family reconciliation policies tend to have high FLFP rates and high TFRs. 2) In countries that have inferior work/family reconciliation policies, an increase in FLFP tends to cause a large decline of the TFR. Moreover, the index of gender empowerment is positively correlated with work/family reconciliation policy and with the TFR. This implies that the power of women promotes work/family reconciliation policies and minimizes the negative effect of an increase in FLFP on the TFR. The lack of power women hold in Japan causes inferior work/family reconciliation policies and less childcare being devoted by husbands, which has resulted in the low TFR.

著者

井上 雅雄

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌

巻号頁・発行日

no.14, pp.171-176, 2005-09-30

著者

阿部 彩

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.19, pp.21-40, 2008-03-31 (Released:2018-04-01)

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This article describes child poverty and deprivation in Japan. While it has been reported elsewhere that the economic well-being of children in Japan has declined since the 1980s, this article is one of the first to go into the details of child poverty using concepts of both traditional income-based poverty measures as well as relative deprivation measures that are constructed from 15 items deemed necessary in a child's life. The analysis confirms that the children in single-mother households, households with more than four children, and households with a young parent or young parents have a higher probability of being low-income. Contrary to popular belief, the ages of children did not yield significant differences in terms of poverty rates. The use of relative deprivation to conduct analysis has several advantages compared to the income-based poverty approach. First of all, by measuring the living standards of children directly, it bypasses the problem of difference in "needs" between different households. The equivalization of income takes into account the size of households, but it (usually) does not take into account, say, the difference in consumption needs for a 2-year-old versus an 18-year-old. Second, the income measure assumes that all members of a household have the same level of living standard, but the deprivation measure does not. By setting different items to be counted into the deprivation scale for children and adults, it can measure living standards of children and adults separately. In cases of resource shortage, it is probable that parents maintain the living standards of children while lowering their own living standards. Using deprivation measurements, we can observe such behavior. Third, by using deprivation measurements, we can set up separate poverty thresholds for adults and children. The results of the deprivation analysis of children show trends similar to those of income-based poverty analyses. The children in single-mother households and/or with young parent(s) have, on the average, higher deprivation scores than other children. The "threshold" income below which the deprivation score rises quickly can also be observed at 4 to 5 million yen (household annual income). Lastly, the deprivation of single mothers is even worse than the deprivation of children in single-mother households, indicating that mothers do away with their own necessities while maintaining the living standards of children.

著者

宮崎 理枝

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, pp.231-250, 2006-03-31 (Released:2018-04-01)

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This paper suggests that the important factors in considering the feminization of domestic care services in Italy due to the cultural, political, and economic aspects of certain East European and Balkan countries. In Italy, the growing numbers of irregular migrants and the labor market for such people have posed serious problems, especially since the late 1980s. After the mid-1990s, however, only a few researchers have pointed out the significant increase in irregular migrant workers performing domestic and care work since the true state of affairs regarding irregular or illegal migrant workers had not been visible from formal statistics. In 2002, the Bossi-Fini Law that was mainly intended to restrict illegal migration by approved by the government (no. 189 enacted on 30 July 2002). This law specifically establishes the fifth regularization program for illegal migrants. About 700,000 applications were received under this regularization program, although only 150,000 illegal migrants were identified that same year. Of these applications, 341,100 were from domestic and care workers, and 361,000 from other wage earners. This program has regularized more than 630,000 illegal migrants, with 43.5% coming from three East European and Balkan countries (Rumania, Ukraine, and Albania). After this regularization program was implemented, there has been a trend toward "Feminization" and "Ethnicization" in the Italian labor market. Regarding domestic and care migrant workers in Italy, it can be said that the ethnicization caused by the enormous influx of illegal female migrant workers from East European and Balkan countries has also had a significant impact on the feminization of domestic care services.

著者

苅谷 剛彦

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.17, pp.32-48, 2007-03-31 (Released:2018-04-01)

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A number of advanced countries, including Japan, are conducting neo-liberal education reforms such as the decentralization and devolution of control over education, privatization, school choice, and national testing. In addition, economic globalization and the rise of the "knowledge-based" economy may make education an important arena of socio-economic policy as governments seek to enhance human capital and individuals' employability, and to provide equal opportunity in life chances. In this paper, I argue that those changes promote a shift of human capital formation toward the rise of "learning capitalism". In Japan, especially, this shift coincides with the transformation from the "Japanese Mode of Credential Society" to the "Learning Capitalist Society", where learning skills and competences become core mechanisms to form, accumulate, and arrange human capital. Previously, under the Japanese mode of credential society, career paths were seen as simple and straightforward. Success in entrance examinations was thought to be the main route to enter good schools and universities, then to get into good workplaces and lead happy lives. Being good at memorizing school knowledge was seen a key factor for this success story. Upon getting into good jobs, which usually meant working for large companies, employees from prestigious universities were given more opportunities to pursue advancement. Their learning skills, sometimes called "trainability", might have played an important role behind the scenes, but their importance was not clearly recognized. The Japanese mode of credential society changed and declined during the 1990s. This transformation was caused by changes in labor markets and in education. Acquiring learning skills and competences took the place of memorizing knowledge. Now both in the workplace and in school, people are expected to master advanced learning skills and competences to keep up with rapid changes in technology and society. People are also required to pursue lifelong learning. In addition, they are expected to become 'clever' investors in choosing what, how, and when they should learn in order to maximize their human capital. In other words, learning skills and competences have become "capital" in this society. However, the distribution of learning skills and competences among students is not equal. In the paper, using survey results, I show that they are unequally distributed among children from different family backgrounds. I then argue that the recent decentralization of education funding and neo-liberal education reforms such as the introduction of voucher systems will increase inequality in learning capital accumulation.

著者

北 明美

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.19, pp.161-175, 2008-03-31 (Released:2018-04-01)

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In the 1960s, the Japanese government and bureaucracy sought to introduce a child benefit program funded by both employees' and employers' contributions, while rejecting an alternate plan to fund children's benefits from general revenues. The plan to introduce employees' contributions, which was blocked by strong opposition from labor, has now been redesigned as a plan to introduce "social insurance for dependent children." This development shows that the importance of non-means-tested and noncontributory cash benefits has been often ignored in discussions on social policy in Japan. Bunji KONDO, an influential researcher of social policy, classified such noncontributory cash benefits in a category close to public assistance and argued that a form of social insurance based on employees' contributions as well as those of employers that benefited workers most. Furthermore, he considered that even child benefits were similar to such forms of insurance, before World War II and in the postwar days up to the 1960's. I would like to point that KONDO's discussions are among the backdrops of the recent odd proposal to replace the current child benefit with "social insurance for dependent children" for which there is no precedent elsewhere in the world. On the other hand, the labor movement in the 1960s did not launch strong campaigns for child benefit programs based only on general revenues. It is not only because it seemed impossible then, but also because labor tended to support benefits based on employers' unilateral contributions. At that time, benefits based on such contributions were regarded as more advantageous for workers, as they channeled portions of profits into worker incomes. However, in other countries, it has been recognized that child benefit programs based on employer contributions have an effect only on horizontal income re-distribution, while child benefit programs funded only by general revenues affect both vertical and horizontal income re-distribution. It is also argued that the former tends to function more strongly to lower wages than the latter. I argue that the Japanese labor movement should reconsider its preference for child benefit programs based on employer contributions, recognizing their gender-biased character and vulnerability to cost-cutting pressures from employers and big business.

著者

チェ ヨンジュン

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌

巻号頁・発行日

vol.19, pp.91-117, 2008

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This article argues that pension developments and reforms in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have been largely influenced by different national business structures and business influences. While labour power in these states has been particularly weak compared to western countries, the interaction between business and state/political sphere offers the key explanation for developments in pension systems. Before the 1990s, the development of occupational retirement benefits and the preference for funded social insurance pensions in Japan and South Korea, in contrast to Taiwan, are well explained by the export-oriented and conglomerate-oriented business structures. Since around 1990, increased business influence has been found in the consecutive retrenchment pension reforms and reforms of corporate pension schemes in Japan and South Korea. Also, different business structures and power provide the explanation for the different trajectories in Korean and Taiwanese pension development in recent years despite their similar political institutions and experiences. Finally, this paper suggests that further research on East Asian welfare regimes should pay more attention to business influences.

著者

庄谷 怜子

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌

巻号頁・発行日

vol.1, pp.121-132, 1999

著者

小沢 修司

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2, pp.27-46, 1999

著者

宮下 さおり

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.17, pp.103-115, 2007-03-31 (Released:2018-04-01)

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Studies on men and masculinities have drawn increasing attention in Japanese gender studies since the end of the 20th century. There has been a yawning gap between the examination of women and that of men from gender perspectives, despite the approximately 20-year history of gender studies in Japan, of which studies on men and masculinities are an integral part. This paper seeks to explore the reason why Japanese gender studies have failed to develop critical studies on men and masculinities, which concern the relationship between patriarchy and men. The answer to this question lies in the course of the development of Japanese gender studies as a whole. There has been little concern with 'subject' or 'agency' matters, which require empirical research on everyday life and culture. In the 1980's, when gender studies emerged in Japan, Japanese academics, including feminists, tended to neglect diversity within society, while feminists in English-speaking countries of the same period confronted the diversity of women. Thus, Japanese academics lost sight of the need to explore subjective meanings or interpretations of people in their everyday lives. Feminism requires studies on men and masculinities for two reasons. Firstly, the studies help correct misunderstandings about the concept of gender, particularly the way that many academics misconstrue gender as concerning only women's problems. Secondly, the core component of patriarchy is deeply held by men and associated with masculinities. We must launch critical studies on men and masculinities, while reflecting on the history of gender studies in Japan.

著者

吉田 健三

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌

巻号頁・発行日

no.18, pp.228-249, 2007-09-30

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Since 2004, the Bush administration has emphasized an "ownership society" as a key political concept. This concept includes promoting the "ownership" of retirement income as a significant aspect. In 2005, the administration assigned top priority to introducing the individual account system into the Social Security. This idea signified the application of a structural change in the private pension system to the public pension system, namely the introduction of defined contribution plans, such as 401(k)s. This paper examines the historical implications and the economic basis of retirement income ownership by analyzing the characteristics of defined contribution plans. It arrives at two primary conclusions. First, ownership of pensions has made participants independent of their employers. In defined contribution plans, the employer does not have the discretionary power to forfeit and reduce the benefits of the participants. It is a subject that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and a series of legislation on retirement income security tried to cover for defined benefit plans. Further, participants in defined contribution plans can decide how to manage their pension assets independently from their employers. Second, the ownership of pensions also signifies the involvement of participants in a new economic order instead of the old order, industrial relations. In defined contribution plans, participants are dependent on plan providers, whose financial services incorporate a condition according to which participants can "own" their pensions. Participants need plan providers to manage their assets and generate profits from them. Such services are an application of services for individual investors and have been developed in order to promote various investment options to middle-class families. Hence, the independence of pension participants, or the ownership of the pension, is based on a specific historical condition-developing the financial business for middle-class individuals, which is also referred as the "money revolution." These findings suggest the emergence of new political issues over the ownership of pensions. In traditional defined benefit plans, the primary objective of retirement income policy is to coordinate industrial relationships, with a special focus on securing employees' rights from employers. However, in defined contribution plans, it is also important to adjust for the conflict of interests between participants and financial institutions. For instance, disclosure of service fees and deregulation of investment management, banned under ERISA for potential conflicts of interest, have emerged as the main issue of retirement income policy since the rapid growth of defined contribution plans.

著者

濱口 桂一郎

出版者

社会政策学会

雑誌

社会政策学会誌 (ISSN:24331384)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, pp.33-47, 2006-03-31 (Released:2018-04-01)

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Since the EEC was established in 1958, a European law policy on work time has been developed to reflect a growing awareness of current social issues, such as social dumping, the sharing of work, health and safety in the workplace, and reconciliation between work time and family life. Since the 1990s, business-friendly flexibility in terms of work time has been stressed and the easing of work time regulations pursued. Conversely, family-friendly flexibility regarding work time has become an urgent need. Thus, 'flexibility' has become a keyword with a double meaning. A new perspective on organizing time over work life is now emerging. Traditional labour law policy based on a model of full-time male workers is being compelled to change in order to account for the growing numbers of women joining the workforce and part-time workers.