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- Convenor:
-
Phoebe Stella Holdgrün
(Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB))
Send message to Convenor
- Discussant:
-
Gabriele Vogt
(LMU Munich University)
- Stream:
- Anthropology and Sociology
- Location:
- Bloco 1, Piso 1, Sala 1.11
- Start time:
- 31 August, 2017 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
This interdisciplinary panel addresses the issue of diversity and diversification in work and the workplace in Japan. The panel aims at examining risk and opportunity structures emerging due to growing diversity as well as at exploring the multifaceted implications of diversification.
Long Abstract:
Diversity has become a buzzword in recent years, in Japan and elsewhere. No matter whether it is with regard to organizational leadership, government agencies, or civil society institutions, diversity - understood as a practical concept for structural change - features prominently in various discourses. It also has become a widely used research concept for analyzing differences and differentiations between social groups delimited by gender, age, sexual orientation, health, or mental and physical ability, among others. Still, the exact meanings and boundaries of diversity remain rather undefined. Whether seen from the practical or the analytical perspective, diversity is a concept applicable to all realms of social life, and differentiation becomes particularly visible in the context of work and employment, implying both opportunities and risks. On the positive side, it is argued that well managed diversity can increase the satisfaction, performance, motivation, and innovative potential of all parties involved. A more critical reading notes that diversity can also stand for growing inequalities and friction due to growing heterogeneity. Whatever the case, it is obvious that processes of diversification lead to considerable changes in the work and employment environments, and Japan is currently experiencing such processes on multiple levels. This interdisciplinary panel addresses the issue of diversity and diversification in the social realm of work and the workplace in Japan by combining - based on the disciplines of political science, psychology and media analysis - different analytic perspectives on the political, educational, and economic system as well as on cultural representations of diversity and the self-perceptions of those involved. It looks at both how diversity at the workplace is reflected in discourses and at the impact diversity and processes of diversification have on institutional frameworks of employment, the organization of work, as well as on individuals and actor groups. In doing so, the panel aims at examining risks and opportunities emerging due to growing diversity, factors influencing the process of diversification, as well as at exploring its multifaceted implications. Furthermore, it contributes to the ongoing discussion on how to define diversity and how to apply it as an analytic category in research.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Tobias Soeldner (German Institute for Japanese Studies)
Paper short abstract:
In a series of three online studies the interrelation between gender role ideals, hostile/benevolent sexism expressed in job descriptions, perceived gender specific work competencies, and career aspirations of Japanese university students was examined.
Paper long abstract:
The interrelation between gender role ideals, hostile/benevolent sexism, perceived gender specific work competencies, and career aspirations was examined in a three stage online study targeting Japanese university students. Stage 1 focused on the differential effects of a participant's pre-existing levels of benevolent and hostile sexism on the perception of work-related competencies of women in general, family role ideals, and the career ambitions of female participants. In stage 2, participants were introduced to a crisis scenario that called for the selection of competent candidates to fill vacant leadership and assistant positions in a company. Despite the fact that the task-relevant competencies of females and males in the candidate pool were exactly matched, the parameters measured in stage 1 had a prominent influence on the relative likelihood of a participant assigning male or female candidates to leadership positions. In stage 3, participants were randomly presented a number of fictitious job descriptions that contained either openly hostile, benevolent, or no sexist passages at all. The presence and type of sexism displayed had differential effects on the perceived attractiveness of the job offer for females, perceived employer sexism, perceived employer goodwill, and the well-being and competency self-perceptions of female participants that underscore the unique and insidious dangers of benevolent sexism.
Steffen Heinrich (German Institute for Japanese Studies)
Paper short abstract:
For years, one of the most controversial issues in Japanese labour politics has been the "diversification of employment forms". This paper asks whether this process lead to political polarization in and explores the evidence in the context of policy as well as voter preferences.
Paper long abstract:
For years, one of the most controversial issues in Japanese labour politics has been the "diversification of employment forms" (koyou keitai no tayouka). Although it seems now to be widely accepted that non-regular work can have problematic social and economic consequences for such workers, the political implications of continuing diversification have so far received only scant attention in the context of Japan. Since regular and non-regular workers differ considerably with regard to their access to social security, seniority pay and career prospects, it could be expected, in line with European models of employment dualization, that policy preferences of workers also diverge. Indeed, there is growing evidence for deepening partisan divisions on issues such as temporary agency work (roudou-sha haken, also called worker dispatch) or the role of law when it comes to setting minimum working standards. While the main opposition party, the Democratic Party (DP, minshin-tou) has long been advocating for stricter rules and rule-setting through legislation, the ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP, jimin-tou) has been emphasizing instead targeted spending and "educating" employers about desired practices. This paper asks whether this development can be taken as evidence that employment form diversification does indeed lead to polarization in the context of Japanese labour politics. For this purpose, it explores the evidence for polarization both in the context of policy as well as voter preferences.
Furthermore, it analyses whether recent initiatives by the Abe government to promote better working conditions for non-regular workers, including higher pay and equal treatment, are evidence of the LDP changing its position due to the changing shape of employment in Japan. If correct, this would suggest that employment diversification is not leading to polarization but, on the contrary, bringing different groups of workers closer together.
Ronald Saladin (University of Trier)
Paper short abstract:
This presentation investigates how Japanese literature and the media negotiate diversity at the workplace. Analyzing the TV drama Hanzawa Naoki and the novel it is based on I argue that it expresses the increasing wish of Japanese Society to reorganize work, the workplace, and its processes.
Paper long abstract:
Diversity at the workplace is usually associated with categories such as gender, age or sexual orientation. I suggest a further dimension of diversity: the way work is structured at the workplace and how this translates into routines of work processes, interpersonal relations, personal development and the achievement of personal goals. This presentation examines how the Japanese TV drama Hanzawa Naoki and the novel it is based on addresses these topics.
Hanzawa Naoki (TBS 2013, based on the novel Ore tachi baburu nyūkō gumi by Ikeido Jun) was the most successful Japanese TV series of the past 30 years. It is about a banker who does not bow down to his superiors and does not support them in doing their dirty business. Hanzawa has a different idea of how bankers should act and fights the odds at his workplace in order to live up to his ideals and to reach his goals. He personifies a new archetype of a white collar worker who differs significantly from the hegemonic idea of the Japanese salaryman with regards to his performance at the workplace and interactions with superiors, colleagues, and clients.
I argue that the success of this TV drama is partially due to the fact that it depicts a utopia that expresses what the majority of Japanese people is wishing for: a re-definition of the way someone has to work in a company and a renewal of workplace organization.
Hence, it promotes diversity at the workplace in terms of supporting more personal freedom and the ability to actively participate in reshaping work processes of the Japanese business world.