Contesting Precarity in Japan

Saori Shibata

Description

Contesting Precarity in Japan details the new forms of workers' protest and opposition that have developed as Japan's economy has transformed over the past three decades and highlights their impact upon the country's policymaking process.Drawing on a new dataset charting protest events from the 1980s to the present, Saori Shibata produces the first systematic study of Japan's new precarious labour movement. It details the movement's rise during Japan's post-bubble economic transformation and highlights the different and innovative forms of dissent that mark the end of the country's famously non-confrontational industrial relations. In doing so, moreover, she shows how this new pattern of industrial and social tension is reflected within the country's macroeconomic policymaking, resulting in a new policy dissensus that has consistently failed to offer policy reforms that would produce a return to economic growth. As a result, Shibata argues that the Japanese model of capitalism has therefore become increasingly disorganized.

Sujets

• Industrial relations
• Political economy
• Japan
• Central

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 juillet 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501749957
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

CONTESTING PRECARITY IN JAPAN

CONTESTING PRECARITY IN JAPAN The Rise of Nonregular Workers and the New Policy Dissensus

SaORi ShibaTa

ILR PRESS AN IMPRINT OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2020 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress .cornell.edu.

First published 2020 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Names: Shibata, Saori, 1973–author. Title: Contesting precarity in Japan : the rise of nonregular workers and the  new policy dissensus / Saori Shibata. Description: Ithaca [New York] : ILR Press, an imprint of Cornell University  Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019044583 (print) | LCCN 2019044584 (ebook) |  ISBN 9781501749926 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501749933 (paperback) |  ISBN 9781501749957 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501749940 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Precarious employment—Social aspects—Japan. |  Labor policy—Japan. | Labor market—Japan. | Neoliberalism—Japan. |  Japan—Economic conditions. Classification: LCC HD5858.J3 S55 2020 (print) | LCC HD5858.J3 (ebook) |  DDC 331.25/72—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044583 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044584

Cover photograph courtesy of Shuichiro Sekine, the Haken Union

Contents

Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations

Introduction

1.  From Coordinated to Disorganized Capitalism in Japan 2.  Organized Labor and Social Conflict in Japan 3.  From Precarity to Contestation 4.  Precarious Labor Power and Japan’s Neoliberalizing Firms 5. Precarious Labor and the Contestation of Policymaking in Japan 6. Japan’s Absent Mode of Regulation: Impeded Neoliberalization

Conclusion

Appendix Notes References Index

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21

40

54

71

90

109

129

137 141 145 167

Acknowedgments

This book benefited from the guidance, comments, support, and suggestions of many people throughout the research and writing process. Part of the research was conducted at the University of Birmingham, where Peter Burnham provided me with important advice, feedback, and oversight. Others who read and com mented on the text as it developed, and to whom I am grateful, include Werner Bonefeld, Peter Kerr, Julie Gilson, Mark Beeson, Juanita Elias, Andre Broome, Len Seabrooke, Ben Clift, Kasia Cwiertka, Lindsay Black, Aya Ezawa, and Guita Win kel. Fran Benson provided important editorial encouragement as the book trav eled through the publication process. I also thank the union and NPO activists who kindly agreed to be interviewed for this research, and who continue to impress me with their ongoing efforts to fight for precarious workers. I espe cially thank David Bailey, without whose support this book would not have been published. Finally, I also would like to thank my children, Itsuki and Masaki, who continue to make my life exciting—and who also instructed me to acknowledge them!

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Abbrevîatîons

ACW2 DPJ GDP HTS JA JAZenchu LDP MHLW NEETs NPO SCAP SME TMG TPP VoC WDL WUT

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Action Center for Working Women Democratic Party of Japan gross domestic product Hankyu Travel Support Japan Agricultural Cooperative Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives Liberal Democratic Party of Japan Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare Not in education, employed, or in training Nonprofit organization Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers Small and mediumsize enterprise Tokyo Metropolitan Government TransPacific Partnership Varieties of Capitalism Worker Dispatch Law Women’s Union Tokyo

CONTESTING PRECARITY IN JAPAN