Compte rendu de Social Class in Contemporary Japan: Structures, Sorting and Strategies

The recent focus on the developmental drive of China and other booming Asian econo- mies has meant that much social science interest has drifted from nearby Japan, mired now for two decades in economic and political stagnation. Times have changed: where once Japan Inc. was the future, challenging even the USA's preminence as the harbinger of futurist modernity, now it struggles to attract new scholars to learn the language and culture. The devastation wrought by the March 201 1 Tokohu earthquake and tsunami seems likely to intensify the depression. Yet, as this wide-ranging and groundbreaking volume attests, there is still much to be learned from the trials of a highly advanced industrial society wrestling with the consequences of financial boom-to-bust (...)