Why Do the Japanese Still See Themselves as Middle Class? The Impact of Socio-structural Changes on Status Identification

This article aims to lay bare the mechanisms that produced the ‘quiet transformation’ of status identification in Japan. To achieve this goal, data from the Stratification and Social Psychology Survey from 2015 (SSP 2015) and the Social Stratification and Social Mobility Survey from 1995 (SSM 1995) are analyzed. Linear regression models with weighted variables and simulations based on the data from the SSP 2015 are used to clarify how changes in the demographic setup of Japanese society (i.e. increases in university enrollment rates, lower marriage rates, and growing non-regular employment rates) affect subjective social status. The results reveal that social changes influence not only the distributions of subjective social status, but also the patterns of correlation between subjective and objective social status (i.e. education, occupation, marriage, and income). In addition, it seems that when the share of a specific status determinant (e.g. university graduates) increases, its effect (negative or positive) on status identification is initially enhanced, but this effect weakens after a certain threshold is reached. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that increases in the number of university graduates, unmarried individuals, and non-regular employees are driving the transformation of status identification in Japan.