Hiroshi Ishida – författare

`This book is absolutely must reading for anyone interested in social stratification or inequality in Japan. I would also highly recommend this book to persons who do not specialize in Japanese studies but who have a general interest in social stratification.' - Arthur Sakamoto, Contemporary Sociology `Hiroshi Ishida's meticulously researched and documented comparative study of mobility in Japan, the United States, and Britain is a major contribution to the literature on the relationship between education and opportunity.' - Mary White, Journal of Japanese Studies `This fine, academic study about social mobility and education in comparative perspective (Japan, the US and the UK) levels many of the prevailing, treasured myths about Japanese distinctiveness.' - Jeff Kingston, Japan Times `Readers will find Ishida's contribution to the debate both meticulously researched and provocative...should be of considerable interest to a wide readership.' - M.A. Weiner, Asian Affairs. The book is a study of intergenerational class mobility and the process of socioeconomic status attainment in contemporary Japan.The idea of 'Japan as an educational credential society' has been debated for a long time in Japan. The book empirically evaluates this idea within the framework of a cross-national comparison with the United States and Britain. The author also examines the patterns of class mobility in Japan within a cross-national perspective and reports similarities and differences in the mobility patterns among the three societies.

Post-war Japan was often held up as the model example of the first mature industrial societies outside the Western economy, and the first examples of "middle-mass" society. Today, and since the bursting of the economic bubble in the 1990’s, the promises of Japan, Inc., seem far away. Social Class in Contemporary Japan is the first single volume that traces the dynamics of social structure, institutional socialization and class culture through this turbulent period, all the way into the contemporary neoliberal moment. In an innovative multi-disciplinary approach that include top scholars working on quantitative class structure, policy development, and ethnographic analysis, this volume highlights the centrality of class formation to our understanding of the many levels of Japanese society. The chapters each address a different aspect of class formation and transformation which stand on their own. Taken together, they document the advantages of putting Japan in the broad comparative framework of class analysis and the enduring importance of social class to the analysis of industrial and post-industrial societies. Written by a team of contributors from Japan, the US and Europe this book will be invaluable to students and scholars of Japanese society and culture, as well as those interested in cultural anthropology and social class alike.