Cultural change and work attitudes in Japan: A cohort analysis

In Japan, today’s younger generation has experienced and continues to experience a dramatically different working environment thanks to the rise of global competition.  Companies find themselves faced with pressure to contain labor costs and the need for a flexible labor force.  At the same time, young adults have grown up in a society valuing harmony and loyalty to nation and employer. 

Geert Hofstede’s (2001) work on cultural measurement demonstrates differences across countries in important dimensions including individualist or collectivist orientation, the expectation of and tolerance for power hierarchies and competitiveness.  Each has an influence on attitudes toward views of work and income distribution.  Additionally, as cultural views toward individualism, power structures and competitiveness change, we may observe dramatic differences in attitudes among age groups making the view of work and pay highly variable across generations or industries.

Evidence of cultural shift can be seen through the rise of the hikikomori (withdrawn youth) or through NEET (not in employment, education or training) youth.  Faced with changing labor policies and globalization, some youth are turning away from traditional attitudes toward work (what Toivonen, Norasakkunkit and Uchilda (2011) refer to as ‘retreatists’) while others conform to the social norms without the expectations of personal gain usually achieved by following the norms (in Toivonen et al, “the itualists”).   Others, as studied by Herbig and Borstoroff (1995), have come of age in a world of globalization, have traveled and see a future for Japan very different than the Japan of their past.

The World Values Survey provides an instrument through which attitudes toward many different aspects of life can be examined across countries and across time.  I focus on analysis of the 2005 World Values Survey in Japan analyzed by age group and compare these results to attitudes expressed prior to the great changes in economic system experienced in the lost decade.  Specifically, attitudes related to power-distance, individualism and competition are highlighted.  These cultural differences are examined relative to attitudes toward the role of work, competition and income inequality.  To highlight cultural change and viewpoints toward social policy, a cohort level analysis is conducted by contrasting the responses of 16-30 year olds with older adults in two time periods.