12/2 M Aging society,
ailing economy, anemic politics
[lecture outline] [audio transcript of lecture] [image gallery] [news clippings]
Readings:
Sato Toshiki, "Twenty Years After the Birth of the 'New Middle Masses,'" Japan Echo, August, 2000, pp. 40-44
12/4 W The new breeds:
Singles, slackers, and seniors
[lecture outline] [audio transcript of lecture] [image gallery] [news clippings]
Readings:
William W. Kelly, "At the Limits of New Middle Class Japan: Beyond 'Mainstream Consciousness,'" in Olivier Zunz, Leonard Schoppa, and Nobuhiro Hiwatari (eds.), Social Contracts Under Stress: The Middle Classes of America, Europe, and Japan at the Turn of the Century. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2002.
Diane Bethel, "Life on Obasuteyama, or, Inside a Japanese Institution for the Elderly," in Takie S. Lebra (ed.), Japanese Social Organization, pp. 109-134 (University of Hawaii Press, 1992) HN723.5/J3/693/1992 [reading notes]
12/6 F Final considerations
Reminder: The final draft of the second essay (Assignment 2) is due on Monday, December 9, by 4:30 p.m.