Abstract:

Brinton’s recent work focuses on the transformation of labor markets in postindustrial societies and the implications for young workers, especially those with less education. Her forthcoming book, Lost in Transition: Youth, Education, and Work in Postindustrial Japan is being published first in Japanese (in fall 2008; NTT Press) in order to reach a broad audience in Japan interested in the difficulties faced by young Japanese men trying to "make it" in an economic environment vastly different from what their fathers faced. The rapid increase in contingent employment and employers’ diminished commitment to "lifetime employment" have produced higher rates of part-time employment and unemployment among Japanese young men than have been seen for many decades. Using original survey data, interviews with urban high school teachers, original data sets on the high school-work transition, and in-depth interviews with a sample of male high school graduates who finished school in the depth of the Japanese recession, Brinton argues for a structural interpretation of the social malaise afflicting 21st-century Japan. She is currently revising the manuscript for an American audience.

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