Abstract
Over the past two decades, topics related to social inequality have come to dominate public discourse in Japan. Over the same time span, the number of Japanese who experience socioeconomic anxiety in their everyday life has increased. Analysis of data from a nationwide survey carried out by the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) in 2009 shows that an increase of social risks is not only perceived as something affecting others, but that strong socioeconomic anxieties and fears of social isolation spread throughout all strata of Japanese society. While status differences prove to be only weakly associated with a variation in insecurities, the positive impact of trust resources is strong. However, as levels of trust, especially in governmental welfare, are low, they cannot fully develop their protective function. It seems as if Japan has not yet managed the transition from a society based on assurance to a society based on trust (Yamagishi, 1999).
Hommerich, Carola