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Political Distrust and Gendered Attitudes: The Japanese State and Women

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Abstract

We explore sources of political trust by examining one’s gender role attitudes as they relate to political trust in Japan. We hypothesize that progressive gender role attitudes are associated with political distrust. This political distrust is perhaps caused by relative deprivation which progressive individuals experience, given that gender relations are still traditional in Japan. We further hypothesize that this distrust among women extends to the government itself. We analyze the 2003 Japanese General Social Survey, a national representative survey of Japanese adults. Based on multivariate analyses of 1,807 respondents, we find support for our hypotheses. Our findings suggest that gender issues are salient among progressive individuals, especially among women.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Edward Crenshaw for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. We also thank Charles Smith for proofreading and providing insightful comments. The Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS) analyzed in this paper are designed and carried out at the Institute of Regional Studies at Osaka University of Commerce in collaboration with the Institute of Social Science at the University of Tokyo under the direction of Ichiro TANIOKA, Michio NITTA, Hiroki SATO and Noriko IWAI with Project Manager, Minae OSAWA. The project is financially assisted by Gakujutsu Frontier Grant from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for 1999-2003 academic years, and the datasets are compiled with cooperation from the SSJ Data Archive, Information Center for Social Science Research on Japan, Institute of Social Science, the University of Tokyo.

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Correspondence to Kana Fuse.

Appendix 1: Original Survey Questions From the 2003 JGSS Used in the Study

Appendix 1: Original Survey Questions From the 2003 JGSS Used in the Study

English Translation

Q3. During the last few years, has your financial situation been getting better, worse, or has it stayed the same?

1 Getting better 2 Getting worse 3 Stayed the same

Q9. If we were to divide the contemporary Japanese society into the following fives strata, which would you say you belong to?

1 Upper 2 Upper middle 3 Middle middle 4 Lower middle 5 Lower

Q13. Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted?

1 Yes 2 No 3 Depends

Q15. How well do you trust...

D. Ministries and government agencies?

K. Diet members?

1 Very much 2 Some 3 Not very much 4 Don’t know

Q19. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

  • B. If a husband has sufficient income, it is better for his wife not to have a job.

  • C. Without a doubt, a woman’s happiness lies in a marriage.

  • D. Men should cook and look after themselves.

  • E. A husband’s job is to earn money; a wife’s job is to look after the home and family.

  • G. A preschool child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works.

  • I. It is more important for a wife to help her husband’s career than to have one herself.

1 Agree 2 Somewhat agree 3 Somewhat disagree 4 Disagree

Q20. Are you a member of the following organizations?

  • A. Cooperatives society (co-op)

  • B. Religious groups

  • C. Hobby groups and clubs (choir, photo-taking, hiking, etc)

1 Yes 2 No

Q25. What was the last school you attended (or are attending now)?

(Before World War II)

  • (a) Ordinary elementary school in the old system (including national elementary school)

  • (b) Higher elementary school in the old system

  • (c) Junior high school/Girls’ high school in the old system

  • (d) Vocational school in the old system

  • (e) Normal school in the old system

  • (f) Higher school or vocational school in the old system/higher normal school

  • (g) University/Graduate school in the old system

(After World War II)

  • (h) Junior high school

  • (i) High school

  • (j) 2-year college/College of technology

  • (k) University

  • (l) Graduate school

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Fuse, K., Hanada, N. Political Distrust and Gendered Attitudes: The Japanese State and Women. Sex Roles 60, 843–858 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9591-y

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