Japanese Irregular Workers in Protest: Freeters, Precarity and the Re-Articulation of Class
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JAPANESE IRREGULAR WORKERS IN PROTEST: FREETERS, PRECARITY AND THE RE-ARTICULATION OF CLASS by ROBIN O’DAY B.A., DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY, 1999 M.A., MCMASTER UNIVERSITY, 2004 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Anthropology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2012 © Robin O’Day, 2012 ABSTRACT The subject of my dissertation is Japanese freeters, youth who work part-time or move from job to job. Within Japan’s protracted economic downturn, freeters have become a complex symbol that at times are blamed, other times pitied and sometimes even celebrated for structuring their lives around jobs that are unstable, but also less demanding and potentially freeing. Ideally, working as a freeter is a temporary period to be replaced by full-time employment. However, many freeters are finding this “temporary” state difficult to move beyond. Within the last decade, some freeters have begun to protest against jobs that many see as exploitative and as demanding as full-time positions without the added benefits and security. This dissertation approaches some of these sites of freeter protest ethnographically. Drawing upon twenty months of participant observation research with four union movements attempting to organize freeters and other young irregularly employed youth, I look at how these groups attempt to politically mobilize freeters. This dissertation explores some of the strategies the union movements use in attempting to cultivate class-consciousness amongst freeters and other young irregular workers that feel disaffected by the limiting circumstances of the employment system and seek to confront and change their working condition. Through the descriptions presented in my ethnographic chapters on these union groups, I argue that the loss of place for young irregular workers is contributing to the re-articulation of class politics and protest in post- industrial Japan. However, I also show that instilling class-consciousness in freeters is itself a complex process full of resistances, negotiations, contradictions and even rejections. I situate this study within a variety of critiques surrounding the fields of the anthropology of Japan, the anthropology of labour and the anthropology of social movements. This study seeks to contribute to the critique that although the anthropology of Japan has taken the experiences of difference and diversity seriously, the field has paid less attention to the role of social class. Moreover, studying union movements ethnographically supports the argument that anthropology can provide greater appreciation of the cultural dimensions and lived experiences of activists involved in organized labour and social movements. ii PREFACE This research was approved by the UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Board: Certificate Number H07-03011. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................. ii PREFACE .................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................ iv LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................... vii GLOSSARY ................................................................................................. ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................ xiv DEDICATION ........................................................................................... xvi Chapter 1: Death of the Salaryman and Birth of the Freeter ................... 1 1.1 Thesis Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Locating Freeters in the Anthropology of Japan ................................................... 2 1.3 Freeter Unions and the Anthropology of Labour .................................................. 7 1.4 Situating Freeter Unions in the Study of Social Movements .............................. 10 1.5 The Invisibility of Social Movements in Anthropology ...................................... 14 1.7 Re-Articulation of Class in Post-industrial Japan ................................................ 19 1.8 Fieldwork Background ......................................................................................... 20 1.9 Language .............................................................................................................. 23 1.10 Fieldwork Methods ............................................................................................. 24 1.11 Position as a Researcher ..................................................................................... 28 1.12 Overview of Chapters ......................................................................................... 30 Chapter 2: Loss of Place ............................................................................ 34 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 34 2.2 The Importance of Social Location (Ba) .............................................................. 35 2.3 Post World War II Stability and the Salaryman ................................................... 38 2.4 Economic Downturn, Re-Structuring and the Rise of “Flexible” Labour ........... 41 2.5 The Emergence of Freeters .................................................................................. 43 2.6 Gender and Irregular Employment ....................................................................... 47 2.7 Finding Place (“Ba”) Elsewhere .......................................................................... 49 2.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 53 Chapter 3: Conflict and Class ................................................................... 55 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 55 3.2 Studying Conflict in Postwar Japan ..................................................................... 56 3.3 Class ..................................................................................................................... 60 3.4 Conflict and Class in the Literature on Workplace Culture in Japan ................... 65 3.5 Class Consciousness ............................................................................................. 69 iv 3.6 Masking of Class Differences .............................................................................. 71 3.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 74 Chapter 4: Locating Freeter Unions in the Japanese Labour Movement ...................................................................................................................... 78 4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 78 4.2 The Japanese Labour Movement .......................................................................... 78 4.3 The Enterprise Union ........................................................................................... 80 4.4 The Political Left .................................................................................................. 82 4.5 National Labour Centres ...................................................................................... 82 4.6 Industrial Federations and Industrial Unions ....................................................... 83 4.7 Future of the Japanese Labour Movement ........................................................... 88 4.8 Community Unions .............................................................................................. 92 4.9 Japan’s Invisible Civil Society ............................................................................. 93 4.10 Recent Protests (Activism) ................................................................................. 95 4.11 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 99 Chapter 5: Dancing in the Streets: Domesticating Precarity in the Tokyo Freeter Union ............................................................................................ 103 5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 103 5.2 The “Sound Demo” ......................................................................................................... 104 5.3 Freeters as Precariats ...................................................................................................... 109 5.4 The Freeter Union .......................................................................................................... 113 5.5 History of the Union ....................................................................................................... 116 5.6 Place, Affect and Anomie in the Tokyo Freeter Union .................................................. 118 5.7 Creating Freeter Class-Consciousness ........................................................................... 127 5.7.1. What’s in a Name? ...................................................................................................