Paper short abstract:

The aim of this paper is to describe the political conscientiousness and voting behaviour of the Japanese young voters, paying attention to their education, occupation and place of living. It highlights the differences in political consciousness as a result belonging to various socioeconomic status.

Paper long abstract:

The aim of this paper is to describe and explain the voting behaviour of the Japanese young voters, encompassing the sentiments of young professionals and those in rural areas as well as the young people with tertiary education living in cities. By paying attention to educational attainment, occupation and place of living, the paper attempts to offer a detailed understanding of young people’s political consciousness and their voting behaviour.

Departing from a standpoint that social cleavage theory and ideological orientations, theories that have long been dominant in explaining the voting behaviour of postwar Japan, have little relevance to date, this paper focuses on the young voters and attempts to describe their political consciousness and voting behaviour. Existing studies about young people and their civic engagement often dismiss those who are in rural areas, and instead take into account sentiments of university students or graduates and young professionals living in cities.

However, data shows that the level of satisfaction with politics and prospects for future living follow different patterns between cities and rural areas, the difference which is also seen between those who are in or have had tertiary education and those who do not. That calls for in-depth examination of political consciousness and voting behaviour among the youth in different socioeconomic status, since established theories of voting behaviour inform that one’s overall satisfaction with life and evaluation of government can influence the one’s views about politics and, by extension, party to vote for.

Hence, this paper illustrates different trends of young people’s political consciousness and attempts to give a big picture of their voting behaviour, noticing their various socioeconomic status. The paper combines existing data and original study to also explain the rationale behind the differences by educational attainment, occupation and place of living.