A sociology of hikikomori : experiences of isolation, family-dependency, and social policy in contemporary Japan
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
A sociology of hikikomori : experiences of isolation, family-dependency, and social policy in contemporary Japan
Lexington Books, c2022
- hbk.
- Other Title
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ひきこもり経験の社会学
Hikikomori keiken no shakaigaku
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Note
Originally published as Hikikomori keiken no shakaigaku in Japapnese, 2016
Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-162) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Hikikomori, which literally means "withdrawal," is considered an increasingly prevalent form of social isolation in Japanese society. This issue has been attracting worldwide attention for two decades and is now recognized as a problem for the youth as well as for middle-aged and older adults. Based on interviews with people who have experienced it, Teppei Sekimizu explores what the hikikomori experience is like from a sociological perspective. He also examines the characteristics of four decades of hikikomori discourse by governments, professionals, and mass media; the difficulties faced by parents with hikikomori children; and the social policy which has relegated most provision of welfare for citizens to the private sector. Through these examinations, the author illustrates how the exclusive labor market and familial social policies create masses of family-dependent and isolated individuals in contemporary Japan. The Sociology of the Hikikomori Experience leads the reader to understand the manifold hikikomori phenomenon in a wider social context and also to a deeper understanding of Japanese society itself, which has regarded not the government, but corporations, families, and communities responsible for individual well-being.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Glossary of Japanese Terms
Preface
Chapter 1 The Hikikomori Experience and Ambivalence
Chapter 2 Self-Categorization as Hikikomori: Becoming a Hikikomori Subject
Chapter 3 Hikikomori as a Japanese Social Problem: Focusing on Families with Hikikomori Children
Chapter 4 Discourses on the Hikikomori Problem from the 1980s to the 2010s
Chapter 5 On the Difficulty of Participation: From Theoretical and Empirical Considerations of the Situated Self
Chapter 6 Time Perspective in the Hikikomori Experience
Conclusion Japanese Society in the Light of the Hikikomori Experience
References
About the Author
by "Nielsen BookData"