An analysis of 21st century Japanese socio-economic conditions as they relate to the furītā phenomenon and the global precariat
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Date
2018
Authors
Mann, Kristjan W. K.
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Abstract
This study attempts to resolve issues surrounding the Japanese phenomenon of the furītā, and will critically explore comparisons which are being drawn between furītā, other segments of the Japanese “irregular” economy and the global precariat. Through a mixture of archival research, statistical analysis, media studies and from accounts of personal experience living and working among furītā, I conclude that the furītā crisis has been overexaggerated. Despite media sensationalism, the furītā are far from the greatest upheaval to 20th Century Japanese employment paradigms. And, this manufactured moral panic has deflected attention from more pressing concerns. The most prominent statistical changes are occurring among women and the elderly, both categories of which are seeing marked increases in employment insecurity. These groups are earning a lower salary than the young male “furītā” they are replacing, causing a defunding of the public pension system and moving this “super-ageing” society further towards a “Gap Society.”
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Japan, Anthropology, Furītā, Neoliberalism, Subculture