After the collapse of Japan's bubble-economy in the late 1980s, a wide
range of neo-liberal reforms were introduced which dramatically affected
the nature of the labor market. These reforms expanded and consolidated
a two-tier market, widening the gap between those who benefit from the
'company citizenship' of 'regular' (long-term, secure) employment
conditions and those who are increasingly disadvantaged by reduced
income and security in the peripheral Ã?Â?Ã?Â?non-regular system of
casual and short-term employment. The contributions in this volume use
the 2005 Social Stratification and Mobility (SSM) survey data to analyze
the effects of Japanese labor market reforms on social mobility, social
welfare, company 'citizenship, ' incomes, as well as the policy
implications for homelessness. (Series: Social Stratification and
Inequality) *** The volume makes a timely contribution in the context
of extensive public debate in the media and recent academic works about
the widening gap between rich and poor, and about the consequences of
that gap for individuals and the society as a whole. The book is a
valuable addition to the field and complements recent publications on
social inequality . . . [and] is significant in two major ways. The
first is that, going beyond quantitative changes in social inequality,
it illuminates, and convincingly argues for, qualitative changes in
social inequality. This is insightful. It advances our understanding of
patterns of inequality, since we have long seen debates on increasing
inequality in income and life chances and in terms of the 'working poor'
and 'new poverty.' The second significance is the authors' insistence
that institutions rather than individual attributes guide social
inequality . . . Institutions set boundaries to, and guide, family and
individual decision and actions, which have resulted in the qualitative
changes in social inequality in the last three decades. - Journal of
Japanese Studies, Vol. 40, No. 1, 2014Ã?Â?Ã?Â?
