Vol.77 No.1 (2025)
Contents
YANO Keiji
Management Policies for the Society’s Fiscal Years 2024–2026 (1)
Article
NAKAZAWA Takashi
Between “Hobby Outwork” and the Reality of Outworkers: Analysis of Outwork Placement Services in Kanagawa Prefecture and Their Users’ Narratives Around 1965 (5)
Research Note
MATSUO Takuma
A Study of Mass Media Perceptions of Gentrification in London (29)
Book Reviews (52)
Meeting Reports
Outline of Special Presentations in the 2024 Annual Meeting (62)
Miscellany (95)
Notices (121)
Abstract
Between “Hobby Outwork” and the Reality of Outworkers:
Analysis of Outwork Placement Services in Kanagawa Prefecture and Their Users’ Narratives Around 1965
NAKAZAWA Takashi
School of Business Administration, Meiji University
During 1960s, outworking, which is defined here as the production of commodities at the workers’ place of residence, proliferated, supporting the tremendous economic growth at that time. Public officials in charge of outwork in Kanagawa Prefecture recognized that the nature of outwork was changing: Outworking, which was once perceived as a lower class’s deed to pay for their keep, was tend to be performed by people with broader economic backgrounds utilizing one’s free time for a better material life. The new type of outwork was often called “hobby outwork”. The weakening economic urgency of outworkers is discernible from the attributes of individuals utilizing outwork placement services offered by the prefecture. However, the primary users of these services remained low-educated women in their 20s to 40s, and the income of households engaged in outwork was lower than that of general working households, with the household income of individuals using placement services being particularly low. In the latter part of this paper, the author employed non-representational theory to analyze the memoirs of the users of outwork placement services. Focusing on the affect, emotion, corporeality, materiality, and relationality within these narratives revealed that the existence of “bodies working at home” generates new interactions with spouses and children, thereby leading to the formation of new family relationships. The contributors did not seem to be engaged in “hobby outwork” in the sense of utilizing their free time, although they were able to dispose of the wages earned by outworking. Consumption by outworkers was linked to the realization of material wealth and to becoming a “good” family under modern family norms. The practice of writing memoirs of outworking can be understood as the contributor’s politics of representation, aiming to dispel the negative perception associated with outworking.
Key words: period of rapid economic growth, metropolitan area, outwork, modern family, non-representational theory, Kanagawa Prefecture
A Study of Mass Media Perceptions of Gentrification in London
MATSUO Takuma
College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ibaraki University
In this study, I examined mass media perceptions of gentrification in London by analysing information about gentrification itself and geographical data contained in online articles published by major British news media in the 2010s. First, I reviewed the content of media reports on the main phenomena of gentrification and the number of articles on each phenomenon, and I identified the diversity of mass media perceptions of gentrification. The mass media focus is on highly visible phenomena and hipsters, who symbolise London’s urban culture, and on the effects and problems of gentrification. Furthermore, based on the geographical information in the articles, I considered the distinctive neighbourhoods mentioned as places where gentrification occurs, the geographical distribution of neighbourhoods, and the relationship between local characteristics and mass media interest. The results showed that antigentrification movements have led to a rapid increase in the number of articles about particular neighbourhoods and that Inner London neighbourhoods, particularly those around the city’s centre, are mentioned in many articles. Given that mass media interest is concentrated on inner cities and neighbourhoods with unique characteristics, I focused on the relationship between mass media interest and the situation and characteristics of neighbourhoods.
Key words: gentrification, mass media, news article, inner city, London