Inter-college stratificiation: The case of male college graduates in Japan

This paper explores the extent to which career stratification of male college graduates is determined by their university affiliation. It argues that the popular rankings of universities may reflect specific employment practices that systematically privilege the graduates of certain universities over those of others. Such practices include the restrictive recruitment of new graduates and stratified career lines for the college-educated, white-collar workers within the employing organizations. This study divides colleges into two groups, based on the chances for initial placement in the higher managerial career track. Using data from a 1975 national survey of Japanese men, it investigates the variations in income attainment, positional achievement, and relevant attitudinal characteristics of the two groups of college graduates. The results tend to support the stratification thesis, although the differences between the two groups are less dramatic than popular perceptions would lead us to believe.     

Exploring Social Aesthetics: Aesthetic Appreciation as a Method for Qualitative Sociology and Social Research

Social aesthetics can be regarded as an important addition to sociology and the social sciences. This article introduces the notion of aesthetic-experiential knowledge into qualitative sociology and social research. It also directs attention to the qualities of social life in their own right, paving the way for approaching the question of a good society in the aesthetic sense. In this article I make a brief exposition of social aesthetics as it has been developed in contemporary Japan. I begin with a discussion of contemporary aesthetics and its implications for social study by focusing on Yuriko Saito's everyday aesthetics. Then I offer reflections on aesthetic appreciation as an act of ajiwau (to taste, experience and appreciate). I show that the incorporation of the methodical act of ajiwau enriches our aesthetic appreciation as a qualitative method for knowing the world in general. Next I move on to the possibility of aesthetically appreciating the social world and offer a definition of social aesthetics as social inquiry through aesthetic appreciation. Based on the act of ajiwau the social, I present an aesthetic-experiential study of a micro-society as a field of human interactions. Finally, I examine the possibilities for promising dialogues between social aesthetics, on the one hand, and qualitative sociology and social research, on the other.     

Determinants of Trust in Industry, Government, and Citizen''s Groups in Japan

The causal structure of the determinants of trust in industry, government, and citizen's groups in Japan was investigated on the basis of Peters et al. (1997). A preliminary survey of the adequacy of the hypotheses proposed by Peters et al. in Japan was made. A set of hypothesized determinants of trust in Japan was proposed based on results of the preliminary survey. Questionnaires concerning perceptions of trust in the organizations and the proposed determinants were sent by mail to residents in the area where environmental risk problems had emerged. The data were analyzed by covariance structure analysis to construct models of trust in industry, government, and citizen's groups. As a result, "openness and honesty," "concern and care," "competence," "people's concern with risks," and "consensual values" were found to be factors directly determining trust. Suggested in particular is that "openness" of an organization is not attained merely by information disclosure, but also by bi-directional communication with the people. Moreover, these models include "consensual values," which do not appear in the model proposed by Peters et al.     

Charisma: From Weber to Contemporary Sociology1

This paper critically examines sociological treatments of the concept of charisma. It demonstrates that the existence of diverse and conflicting views on charisma is due partly to sociologists' selection accentuations of the different types of charisma (magical, prophetic, and routinized) in Weber's writings. Reconsidering charisma as an expression of alienation, the paper also suggests a synthetic approach that may alleviate the conceptual anarchy surrounding it.