Social Construction of Older Workers: The Experiences of Aging under the Institution of Lifetime Employment in Japan Author: Masa Higo Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2509 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2010 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Sociology SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF OLDER WORKERS: THE EXPERIENCES OF AGING UNDER THE INSTITUTION OF LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT IN JAPAN A dissertation by MASA HIGO submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December, 2010 © copyright by MASA HIGO 2010 Social Construction of Older Workers: The Experiences of Aging under the Institution of Lifetime Employment in Japan MASA HIGO Dissertation Committee: John B. Williamson, Ph.D. Natalia Sarkisian, Ph.D. Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Today, against the backdrop of the demographic pressures to delay the retirement of older workers, sociologists of aging have begun exploring the impact of national labor market institutions on individual workers’ experiences of aging. Using semi-structured, life story interview data drawn from a sample of 52 male workers in the Tokyo area (born between 1940 and 1953), this dissertation research has contributed to uncovering the ways in which the institution of lifetime employment – the most foundational labor market institution of contemporary Japan – uses age to control individuals’ perceptions and behaviors over the course of their working lives. This dissertation research includes data from pre-mandatory retirement older workers (n=29, aged 55-59) and post- mandatory retirement older workers (n=23, aged 60-68). Based on a social constructionist perspective, this dissertation research has explored three areas of these workers’ experiences of aging over the course of their working lives: (1) perceived instances of being subjected to age discrimination; (2) changes to their attitudes toward these age discrimination experiences; and (3) changes to their self-concepts as workers. A series of thematic data analyses of the interview data, drawn with a life course approach and a grounded theory method, has generated two sets of findings. First, the pre-mandatory retirement experiences of aging of the interview participants (n=52) have contributed to uncovering and describing a social process through which ‘older workers’ are socially constructed within the institutional framework of lifetime employment. Second, the research has found that after mandatory retirement, the post-mandatory retirement workers (n=23) rejected the label of ‘older workers’ and critically viewed lifetime employment as a 'total institution' (Goffman 1961), essentially an institution of social control, harmful to workers in their later working lives. This dissertation research has contributed to the literature by demonstrating that the lifetime employment institution in Japan serves as an intensive age-based social control mechanism that has constructed and reproduced ‘older workers’ in the country’s labor force. Based on the findings of post- mandatory retirement experience of aging, this dissertation research also suggests that the Japanese government should find ways to mitigate the social exclusion, marginalization, and stigmatization that workers experience in their post-mandatory retirement working lives. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER ONE .............................................................................1 1.2. SCOPE OF RESEARCH: AGING UNDER LABOR MARKET INSTITUTIONS ..................3 1.3. SNAPSHOT OF THE INSTITUTION OF LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT IN JAPAN ...............11 1.4. THE RESEARCH SUBJECT: LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT WORKERS IN JAPAN ............18 1.5. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: A SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST APPROACH .............22 1.6. THREE AREAS OF EXPERIENCES OF AGING .........................................................27 1.7. RATIONALES FOR THE DISSERTATION RESEARCH ...............................................30 CHAPTER TWO: STRUCTURES OF LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT ....................................................................... 41 2.1. SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER TWO ..........................................................................41 2.2. DEFINING THE LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT INSTITUTION IN JAPAN ..........................43 2.3. EMPLOYERS’ AGE-BASED WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT AND VALUES ...............47 2.4. GOVERNMENT’S AFFIRMATION OF EMPLOYERS’ AGE-BASED PRACTICES ..........64 2.5. STRUCTURAL PRODUCTION OF THE POST-MANDATORY RETIREMENT WORKFORCE ................................69 2.6. HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT ................77 2.7. LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT IN JAPAN TODAY: RECENT INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES .............................................................95 i CHAPTER THREE: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ........................................................................................................... 104 3.1. SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER THREE ....................................................................104 3.2. AGING IN SOCIETY: SOCIAL AGE, AGE NORMS, AND SOCIAL CONTROL ...........107 3.3. INDIVIDUALS’ EXPERIENCES OF AGING OVER THE LIFE COURSE ......................112 3.4. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND REPRODUCTION OF THE LIFE COURSE .................125 3.5. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF ‘OLDER WORKERS’ AND ‘RETIREMENT’ ...............129 3.6. EXPERIENCES OF AGING IN JAPAN: PERCEIVED AGE DISCRIMINATION .............135 3.7. EXPLORATORY HYPOTHESIS FOR THE DISSERTATION RESEARCH .....................139 CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODOLOGY ............................................................................. 144 4.1. SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER FOUR .......................................................................144 4.2. THE LIFE COURSE APPROACH AND THE LIFE STORY METHOD .........................146 4.3. THE DATASET: THE ‘LIVED EXPERIENCES OF OLDER WORKERS’ STUDY .........153 4.4. THE DISSERTATION RESEARCH: DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE ........................163 4.5. DATA CODING METHOD AND STRATEGY ..........................................................172 CHAPTER FIVE: SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF OLDER WORKERS IN JAPAN THE EXPERIENCE OF AGING WITHIN THE LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT INSTITUTION .................................................................. 181 ii 5.1. SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER FIVE ........................................................................181 5.2. INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION: ENTERING INTO LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT ...........184 5.3. SOCIAL INTEGRATION: SOCIALIZING INTO LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT ................198 5.4. COMING OF THE ‘MIDDLE-AGE’: ALIGNING AGE, TENURE, AND ORGANIZATIONAL ROLES .........................212 5.5. TRANSITION TO ‘OLDER WORKERS’: EXCLUSION FROM JOB TRAINING IN THE ‘LOST DECADE’ ........................230 5.6. APPROACHING (MANDATORY) ‘RETIREMENT’: INTERNALIZED AGEISM IN OLD-AGE AT THE WORKPLACE .......................246 5.7. DISCUSSION: SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF OLDER WORKERS WITHIN LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT...............................................................261 CHAPTER SIX: POST-MANDATORY RETIREMENT WORKERS’ PERSPECTIVE: CRITICAL REEVALUATION OF LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT ....................................... 279 6.1. SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER SIX ...........................................................................279 6.2. ‘REHIRED’ POST-MANDATORY RETIREMENT WORKERS: SOCIAL MARGINALIZATION AND EXCLUSION ‘WITHIN’ LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT .................................282 6.3. ‘JOB MARKET RETURNEE’ POST-MANDATORY RETIREMENT WORKERS: AGE BARRIERS TO ‘PRODUCTIVE AGING’ IN THE LABOR MARKET ...........301 6.4. DISCUSSION: iii LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT AS A ‘TOTAL INSTITUTION’: POST-MANDATORY RETIREMENT WORKERS AS ‘OUTSIDERS-WITHIN’ ....320 CHAPTER SEVEN: SUMMARY & CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 339 7.1. SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER SEVEN ....................................................................339 7.2. SUMMARY OF THE DISSERTATION RESEARCH ...................................................343 7.3. THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS: DECONSTRUCTING SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF ‘OLDER WORKERS’? .......352 7.4. LIMITATIONS OF THE DISSERTATION RESEARCH: LIMITS IN THE USE OF THE LIFE STORY INTERVIEW METHOD ..................357 7.5. CONTRIBUTION 1: UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUALS’ EXPERIENCES OF AGING UNDER THE LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT INSTITUTION ..................................359 7.6. CONTRIBUTION 2: FILLING THE GAP IN THE LITERATURE – COMPARING THE ANGLO-SAXON AND JAPANESE LABOR MARKET INSTITUTIONAL MODELS .......................361 7.7. CONTRIBUTION 3: POLICY IMPLICATIONS – WORKING BEYOND (MANDATORY) RETIREMENT IN THE MIDST OF THE INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES ......................................365 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................... 376 iv FIGURES & TABLES ........................................................................................................................ 403 APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................................ 437 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT May I express my heartfelt