New Projects

Down and Out in Tokyo and New York

Brinton is working on a comparative study of less-educated youths’ employment strategies in New York and Tokyo (with Katherine Newman, Princeton). The project draws on in-depth interviews with comparable samples of graduates from less-advantaged high schools in the late 1990s in the two metropolitan areas, and follows their progress through the labor market as they move into their late twenties.

Social Rigidities in the "Lowest-Low" Fertility Societies

This project examines the puzzle of why fertility rates in a number of postindustrial societies (Japan, Italy, Spain) have dipped well below replacement level. The project focuses on the rigidity of social norms surrounding the transition to adulthood and surrounding definitions of appropriate gender roles. Principal work on this project will commence in 2008-09.