Japanese Modernity and Welfare

there is an increasing number of youth in Japan who are dropping out of society and isolating themselves in their bedrooms from years to decades at a time. these so-called hikikomori or social isolates have been described by Japanese clinicians as suffering most commonly from an autism spectrum disorder. however, such claims come out of examining biased samples of hikikomori who have already been referred to mental health professionals. Alternatively, we argue that the tendency for hikikomori represents an increasing marginalization of Japanese youth who are consciously rejecting dominant cultural values of harmony-seeking and consequently deviating in their motivation to conform to others' behaviors. the current study tests for this alternative argument for hikikomori tendencies. one hundred ninety-five participants were recruited from Japanese universities and divided into high risk vs. low risk of becoming hikikomori according to an instrument that measures such risks. As expected, high risk students shared similar social perceptions about pervasive values in their society as low risk students, thereby ruling out deficits in social perception as being associated with hikikomori risk. instead, high risk students were not motivated to conform to others' behaviors relative to low risk students and this difference was fully mediated by differences in preferred levels of harmony-seeking. Furthermore, high risk students scored lower on both local identity and global identity relative to low risk students, thereby reifying their marginalized identity in Japanese society.

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“…Furthermore, public aid in Japan is only made available if self-help and family support are not sufficient (Vij, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

To Conform or to Maintain Self-Consistency?HikikomoriRisk in Japan and the Deviation From Seeking Harmony

Norasakkunkit¹,

Uchida²

2014

Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology

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“…De-gendered at home and in the workplace Educational training (Cave, 2007) Cooperation (Vij, 2007) Family support Primarily family support State support; third sector support; support from friends be ideally located in the small area where culture, society, and post-industrial pressures overlap (the black area in Figure 2). These individuals tactfully react in '' cool'' ways to maintain their position, bringing together the three realms in a cohesive manner.…”

Section: Highmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caught Between Culture, Society, and Globalization: Youth Marginalization in Post‐industrial Japan

Norasakkunkit

Uchida

Toivonen

2012

Social & Personality Psych

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In this article, we review the controversies regarding how representative Japanese psychological patterns are of an interdependent orientation and discuss understanding these controversies in the context of seeing Japanese youth as being marginalized in their own society. We review specific studies on shifting values and motivational patterns at the individual level and incorporate a sociological perspective to understand the causes of these patterns at the social-structural level. We argue that traditional cultural practices are maintained to protect the senior elites of Japan at a cost of increasing the rift between culture, society, and post-industrial trends. The unsustainability of this rift then ends up asymmetrically marginalizing Japanese youth who bear the brunt of the cost of institutional resistance to globalization pressures. Therefore, the ''demotivation'' and psychological distancing from interdependent norms among marginalized Japanese youth are not the causes of marginalization, but rather, are an outcome of it. Thus, we argue that psychology of globalization and the psychology of marginalization can go hand-in-hand, especially for societies with dominant institutions that are interdependent, relatively inflexible, seniority-based, and are entering a post-industrial economy due to globalization demands.

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“…Many of these marginalized youth are unable to fend for themselves in the face of uncertainty, instability, and a fierce competition for a spot inside the protective bubble of the long‐term employment system. These people then often have no choice but to take indefinite refuge in the care of their immediate families because public aid in Japan is not only associated with immense negative stigma but can only to be made available if self‐help and family support are not sufficient (Vij, 2007). As they resort to relying on their immediate families for financial support, many of them may choose to completely withdraw from employment, education, or training and are therefore referred to as NEETs (i.e., Not in Employment, Education, or Training) a term originally coined by the British government to describe British youth who were temporarily not participating in society (DfEE, 2001).…”

Section: Globalization and Anomiementioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological Consequences of Postindustrial Anomie on Self and Motivation Among Japanese Youth

Norasakkunkit

Uchida

2011

Journal of Social Issues

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Due to economic structural changes in Japan, an increasing population of youth are “Not engaged in Employment, Education, or Training” (NEET). We argue that this state of anomie is associated with a lack of motivation in conforming to interdependent norms. To illustrate this type of “deviant” motivation, we conducted a study in which high‐ and low risk Japanese students were given either success or failure feedback upon completing a challenging task. Low risk Japanese students were more likely to persist on the challenging task upon being given negative feedback compared to being given positive feedback. This motivational pattern is consistent with that of the prototypical Japanese (Heine et al.). In contrast, the opposite pattern was found with high risk Japanese students. High risk students were also lower on levels of interdependence relative to low risk students according to both explicit and implicit measures of self‐construal.

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Japanese Modernity and Welfare

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

To Conform or to Maintain Self-Consistency?HikikomoriRisk in Japan and the Deviation From Seeking Harmony

To Conform or to Maintain Self-Consistency?HikikomoriRisk in Japan and the Deviation From Seeking Harmony

Caught Between Culture, Society, and Globalization: Youth Marginalization in Post‐industrial Japan

Psychological Consequences of Postindustrial Anomie on Self and Motivation Among Japanese Youth

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