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Japanese Teinen Taishoku: How Cultural Values Affect Retirement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

John McCallum
John McCallum
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra A.C.T. 2601Australia
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Abstract

Recent international research on retirement neglects the macro social context in which the process occurs. In an attempt to redress this neglect this paper analyses the phenomenon of retirement in Japan. It is argued, firstly, that different understandings of egalitarianism and individualism structure public policies about retirement in different countries. Japan with its different culture but highly developed economy provides a unique point of comparison with other developed countries because it can provide evidence of cultural values affecting individual motivations to action. In Japan, a strong group orientation as opposed to individualism in other developed countries has two consequences relevant to retirement. Firstly, individuals are unwilling to separate from their work group and, secondly, they are not socialised for leisure. Evidence is presented on how macro social factors influence work participation and attitudes. Finally, multivariate analyses show that cultural factors operate in conjunction with economic ones in retirement decisions. It is concluded that macro-social factors cannot be neglected in studying retirement and that caution is needed in taking policy innovations for dealing with population ageing from one culture and another.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 1988 , pp. 23 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

NOTES

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