Bicycle citizens : the political world of the Japanese housewife

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Bicycle citizens : the political world of the Japanese housewife

Robin M. LeBlanc ; with a foreword by Saskia Sassen

（Asia : local studies/global themes, 1）（Studies of the East Asian Institute）

University of California Press, c1999

  • : hbk
  • : pbk

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Note

Bibliography: p. 227-237

Includes index

Paperback ed: 23 cm

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: hbk ISBN 9780520212909

Description

While the typical Japanese male politician glides through his district in air-conditioned taxis, the typical female voter trundles along the side streets on a simple bicycle. In this ethnographic study of the politics of the average female citizen in Japan, Robin LeBlanc argues that this taxi-bicycle contrast reaches deeply into Japanese society. To study the relationship between gender and liberal democratic gender and liberal democratic citizenship, LeBlanc conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in suburban Tokyo among housewives, volunteer groups, consumer co-operative movements, and the members of a committee to re-elect a female Diet member who used her own housewife status as the key to victory. LeBlanc argues that contrary to popular perception, Japanese housewives are ultimately not without a political world.
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780520212916

Description

While the typical Japanese male politician glides through his district in air-conditioned taxis, the typical female voter trundles along the side streets on a simple bicycle. In this first ethnographic study of the politics of the average female citizen in Japan, Robin LeBlanc argues that this taxi-bicycle contrast reaches deeply into Japanese society. To study the relationship between gender and liberal democratic citizenship, LeBlanc conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in suburban Tokyo among housewives, volunteer groups, consumer cooperative movements, and the members of a committee to reelect a female Diet member who used her own housewife status as the key to victory. LeBlanc argues that contrary to popular perception, Japanese housewives are ultimately not without a political world. Full of new and stimulating material, engagingly written, and deft in its weaving of theoretical perspectives with field research, this study will not only open up new dialogues between gender theory and broader social science concerns but also provide a superb introduction to politics in Japan as a whole.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD by Saskia Sassen ACKNOWLEDGMENTS NOTE ON NAMES 1. "Supposing Truth Is a Woman-What Then?" 2. The Identity of the "Regular Housewife" 3* Housewives and Citizenship 4. Volunteering against Politics: Housewives, Citizenship, and Community Service 5. Toward a "Housewifely'' Movement: The Seikatsu Club Co-op's Daily Life Politics 6. The Ono Campaign: A "Regular'' Housewife in Elite Politics CONCLUSION NOTES REFERENCES INDEX

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