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Precis: " Freeters: Young Atypical Workers in Japan" (2005) by Yuki Honda

In Honda’s paper “Freeters: Young Atypical Workers in Japan” (2005), she presents an analytical explanation to the increase of the presence of “Freeters” in the post Bubble-burst era through examining empirical and research data, that led to the result of a number of macro and micro-level factors that constitute to the problem. In the analysis, it is revealed that the drastic change of societal and employment need have created a vacuum that prolonged a form of “disordered adolescence” that was heavily influenced by the complacent socio-economic interdependence of society during their upbringing, that when faced with the next chapter of their lives beyond graduation, they remain uncertain that they cannot identify with a life in working world or following the prescriptive structure of society. This was supported by several factors that Honda assessed, such as in macro-level: demographic, women participation, expansion of education, and industrial structures; as well as in micro-level: familial support, educational guidance and curriculum, labor market, and individual political power; all of which, are interconnected and shows that this unique interdependent relationship which had helped in the economical boom in the early years, persisted in the arrangement of the social structure even when the socio-economic status of the country has began to change brought about by new and international factors (such as the financial crisis in Asia leading to recession.) Therefore, Honda concluded that it was this rapid change within the leading factors that created a widening gap between the social structures that would have been the supporting pillars of the youth. This furthered the confusion of the Japanese society and the youth within it (particularly in their career choices.) As a sociologist, whose research field focuses on the relations between education, work and family, Honda’s approach to the paper used a collaboration of descriptive and analytical discussion in order to provide an answer to the increasing number of “freeters” in Japan. This proves to be a study meant for future researches, economists and sociologists, as well as to students of similar fields.

(December 01, 2015)

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