Paper short abstract:

Taking a case of one Japanese village community, my paper elucidates a mechanism, under which the historically constituted and therefore locally specific structure of social inequality is perpetuated via an ongoing state-led regional policy, namely community building projects.

Paper long abstract:

In 2009, the Japanese government shifted its policy for regional governance aimed at combatting the ongoing economic stagnation and depopulation in rural communities from large-scale public investment projects to grass roots community-building projects (chiiki okoshi). The greater part of the existing literature treats the participatory aspect of these projects as a sign of the empowerment of local civil society as a whole. However, when we remember that it is the very same central government that is promoting this local activism, the notion of real local empowerment immediately becomes questionable. Indeed, Japanese regional policies have been reshaped in accord with the New Public Commons, widely recognized as the benchmark of a neo-liberal public administration. Taking a critical perspective, my paper is concerned with whether the participants in community building projects are, in fact, the unwitting facilitators of the neo-liberal goals of the State. Moving beyond simple criticism that merely identifies neo-liberal characteristics in community building projects, my paper deals with the consequences of community building projects for the local community. Taking the case of one Japanese village community, the key question I pose is: 'Who actually are the motivated participants in a community-building project in a specific village?' To answer this question, I study the historically constituted and therefore locally specific structure of social hierarchy in the locality — its socio-culture. I demonstrate that the limits to participation in the project at the village level are socio-culturally structured. As a consequence, the overall plan for community building activities embodies a noticeable socio-cultural bias. I argue that this unequal social reality has resulted in what Pierre Bourdieu called symbolic domination in the village. Accordingly, my study concludes that the neo-liberalization of the governing discourse at the State level advances, while simultaneously perpetuating the structure of social inequality at the local level. By presenting the highly locally specific nature, yet highly politically significant structure, of rural communities, my study contributes to the elucidation of a newly emerging, and possibly encompassing, aspect of the complexity and diversity of rural life in contemporary Japan.