Japan's New Middle Class

After Fu Gaoyi, an expert on Chinese and Japanese studies at Harvard University, was dismissed as a "country boy" at the beginning of his academic career, he realized that if a sociologist has never lived in another culture, how can he understand the society of his own country? From 1958 to 1960, he came to Machi, a suburb of Tokyo, to conduct field research, describing in depth the "new middle class"—salary workers and their families—at a time of rapid social change in Japan. With the rapid development of the Japanese economy after World War II, a large number of employees entered large enterprises and organizations and obtained lifelong positions. They replaced the old middle class and drove changes in families, the economy, and culture. They were not only a constant stabilizing force in the face of great social changes, but also established the basic model of Japanese social operation that continues to this day. "Japan's New Middle Class" is Vogel's famous work. The main research took 2 years, but Vogel and his wife have continued to follow up the research subjects since then, and the research results actually span 30 years. "Japan's New Middle Class" was highly forward-looking at the time, and subsequent revisions have ensured its reality. From an academic point of view, the research method of this book can be regarded as a model of cultural anthropology, with a unique three-dimensional perspective and depth of understanding of contemporary life. Different from the traditional ethnography at the time, "Japan's New Middle Class" established the mainstream direction of Japanese studies in the future and became a touchstone for many scholars to understand Japanese society.