Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: The individualization of relationships refers to the situation in which a leeway is allowed for the intervention of individuals making choices on their own in developing and maintaining relationships.Two types of discourses on relationships were generated: one is the "liberation" discourse that ties the individualization of relationships to individual self-realization and the demonstration of individuality, and the other is the "deprivation" discourse that ties the individualization of relationships to the weakened state of existing relationships.In this paper, we investigate which the aspects -"liberation" or "deprivation" -appear in family, company and local communities.We found that even though the Japanese are positive about living an individual life free from family and corporate relationships in the context of "liberation", in order to deal with the risks of "deprivation", they easily resort to family members and corporate community that formerly controlled or bound them. The Individualization of RelationshipsThe individualization of relationships refers to the situation where the leeway for the intervention of individuals making their own choices deliberately can expand in developing and maintaining relationships.There are two conditions that must be met to establish this situation: the weakening of intermediate groups and the emergence of individual will and emotion.With those two coordinating like two wheels of a cart, the individualization of a relationship may unfold.What accompanies this is a "pure relationship".A pure relationship can develop in "a situation where a social relation is entered into for its own sake, for what can be derived by each person from a sustained association with another; and which is continued only in so far as it is thought by both parties to deliver enough satisfactions for each individual to stay within it" (Giddens 1992: 58).For this reason, commitment by both parties is crucial to this relationship, and that is "essentially what replaces the external anchors that close personal connections used to have in pre-modern situations" (Giddens 1991: 92).This generated two types of discourses on relationships: the "liberation" discourse that ties a pure relationship to individual self-realization and the demonstration of individuality, and the "deprivation" discourse that ties a pure relationship to the weakened state of existing relationships.Japan used to be viewed as a society with strong intermediate groups as reflected by its low rates of job-switching and divorce.While Japanese collectivism was valued as the driving force facilitating economic growth, it was also understood as a factor to suppress individual freedom or even a sign of underdeveloped qualities.Under those circumstances, the advancement of individualization was often understood in the context of "liberation".However, at least as far as Japanese corporations are concerned, owing to advancing globalization and the deregulation of the labor market since the mid-1990 s, Japan's collectivistic corporate management (i.e.Japanese-style management and corporate familism) has undergone a major transformation.Increased in number are people whose lifetime commitment and seniority wage system are no longer ensured.Thus, there is no prospect that employers will guarantee a lifetime of stability; coupled with the poor social security system, compared to Western developed nations, today's individual citizens are, in a way, thrown out into a bare 1.
Source: Soziale Welt
Authors: Mitsunori Ishida, Midori Ito, Munenori Suzuki, Norihiro Nihei, Masao Maruyama
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4231800437