Comments on: The anthropology of contemporary culture http://cultureby.com/2009/02/the-anthropolog.html This Blog Sits At the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:06:55 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: John McCreery http://cultureby.com/2009/02/the-anthropolog.html/comment-page-1#comment-860 John McCreery Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:38:16 +0000 http://grantmccracken.com/cco/http:/grantmccracken/page-title#comment-860 <p>Grant, my sense of what's happening with Japanese consumers is largely informed by the work of trendwatcher Atsushi Miura (<a href="http://www.culturestudies.com/profile/index.html)," rel="nofollow">http://www.culturestudies.com/profile/index.html),</a> who points out that the period of rapid growth in the 1970s and 1980s was driven by the Japanese Baby Boomers, who, in contrast to their American counterparts, are a much narrower age cohort. The Japanese boomers were born between 1947 and 1949, since which Japan's birthrate has steadily declined. Coming of age and entering the labor market as the 1970s began, they were also the first generation to embrace the Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best ideal of a nuclear family living in the suburbs, with a separate but equal division of labor between husband and wife, and dads who wanted to be friends instead of distant authority figures to their kids. They were the market whose purchases of homes, cars, and consumer durables complemented Japan's exports and made Japan the fastest growing economy in the world. Now they are in their 60s, retiring and throttling back, worried about the future and what will happen to their kids. The Boomer Jrs were the next big demographic wave but ran smack into the collapse of the 1980s bubble in 1991. As Japanese companies embraced neoliberal principles and began to restructure their operations, a minority of the brighter and more ambitious have become the _katchigumi_ (the winners) courted by luxury brands; the majority have become the _makigumi_ (the losers), who have been relegated in large numbers to temp staff positions and, even if full time, have seen their incomes stagnate. There is also a lot of talk about spoiled kids who have grown up without their parents' drive and discipline. I have written myself (in a short piece for a Chamber of Commerce newsletter) that the serious question is why, in the face of economic hardship, young Japanese act more like conservative bankers than budding entrepreneurs. I have also speculated about the psychology of people who have grown up in a society that is both highly structured and materially affluent; the prevailing attitude revealed by numerous studies is "I like what I have, leave me alone." </p> <p>Hope this is helpful. </p> Grant, my sense of what's happening with Japanese consumers is largely informed by the work of trendwatcher Atsushi Miura (http://www.culturestudies.com/profile/index.html), who points out that the period of rapid growth in the 1970s and 1980s was driven by the Japanese Baby Boomers, who, in contrast to their American counterparts, are a much narrower age cohort. The Japanese boomers were born between 1947 and 1949, since which Japan's birthrate has steadily declined. Coming of age and entering the labor market as the 1970s began, they were also the first generation to embrace the Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best ideal of a nuclear family living in the suburbs, with a separate but equal division of labor between husband and wife, and dads who wanted to be friends instead of distant authority figures to their kids. They were the market whose purchases of homes, cars, and consumer durables complemented Japan's exports and made Japan the fastest growing economy in the world. Now they are in their 60s, retiring and throttling back, worried about the future and what will happen to their kids. The Boomer Jrs were the next big demographic wave but ran smack into the collapse of the 1980s bubble in 1991. As Japanese companies embraced neoliberal principles and began to restructure their operations, a minority of the brighter and more ambitious have become the _katchigumi_ (the winners) courted by luxury brands; the majority have become the _makigumi_ (the losers), who have been relegated in large numbers to temp staff positions and, even if full time, have seen their incomes stagnate. There is also a lot of talk about spoiled kids who have grown up without their parents' drive and discipline. I have written myself (in a short piece for a Chamber of Commerce newsletter) that the serious question is why, in the face of economic hardship, young Japanese act more like conservative bankers than budding entrepreneurs. I have also speculated about the psychology of people who have grown up in a society that is both highly structured and materially affluent; the prevailing attitude revealed by numerous studies is "I like what I have, leave me alone."

Hope this is helpful.

]]> By: Grant McCracken http://cultureby.com/2009/02/the-anthropolog.html/comment-page-1#comment-859 Grant McCracken Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:21:59 +0000 http://grantmccracken.com/cco/http:/grantmccracken/page-title#comment-859 <p>John, point very well taken, and thanks for the reference, actually when I prepared this list, I searched by ProCite data base using America as my keyword. Not that I am very well supplied with the non-American, but hey that's my speciality. And thanks for the reminder of your exemplary work. Did you see this article in the New York Times recently, the one that says that Japanese consumer patterns changed fundamentally in the 1990s. Tabuchi, Hiroko. 2009. “When Consumers Cut Back: A Lesson From Japan.” The New York Times, February 22 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/business/worldbusiness/22japan.html?th&emc=th" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/business/worldbusiness/22japan.html?th&emc=th</a> (Accessed February 22, 2009). Let me know if you have thoughts on this story. I would be honored to (cross) post them here. Thanks again. Grant</p> John, point very well taken, and thanks for the reference, actually when I prepared this list, I searched by ProCite data base using America as my keyword. Not that I am very well supplied with the non-American, but hey that's my speciality. And thanks for the reminder of your exemplary work. Did you see this article in the New York Times recently, the one that says that Japanese consumer patterns changed fundamentally in the 1990s. Tabuchi, Hiroko. 2009. “When Consumers Cut Back: A Lesson From Japan.” The New York Times, February 22 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/business/worldbusiness/22japan.html?th&emc=th (Accessed February 22, 2009). Let me know if you have thoughts on this story. I would be honored to (cross) post them here. Thanks again. Grant

]]> By: John McCreery http://cultureby.com/2009/02/the-anthropolog.html/comment-page-1#comment-858 John McCreery Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:18:34 +0000 http://grantmccracken.com/cco/http:/grantmccracken/page-title#comment-858 <p>What a remarkably parochial reference list! The only thing I see that isn't either about USAnians or the British is Francis L.K.Hsu, which was long in the tooth when I read it decades ago. </p> <p>For Japan, check out</p> <p>Dorinne Kondo, Crafting Selves<br /> Anne Allison, Permitted and Prohibited Desires<br /> or, I'll toot my own horn, John McCreery (2000) Japanese Consumer Behavior: From Worker Bees to Wary Shoppers, a look at changes in Japanese society through the eyes of the researchers at the Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living, who started looking at Japanese consumers from a 360° perspective back in 1981. </p> <p>Plenty of other stuff, too, if you look for it.</p> <p>And then there's China, India, Korea, Thailand.... Lots of stuff to read out there.</p> What a remarkably parochial reference list! The only thing I see that isn't either about USAnians or the British is Francis L.K.Hsu, which was long in the tooth when I read it decades ago.

For Japan, check out

Dorinne Kondo, Crafting Selves
Anne Allison, Permitted and Prohibited Desires
or, I'll toot my own horn, John McCreery (2000) Japanese Consumer Behavior: From Worker Bees to Wary Shoppers, a look at changes in Japanese society through the eyes of the researchers at the Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living, who started looking at Japanese consumers from a 360° perspective back in 1981.

Plenty of other stuff, too, if you look for it.

And then there's China, India, Korea, Thailand…. Lots of stuff to read out there.

]]> By: Grant McCracken http://cultureby.com/2009/02/the-anthropolog.html/comment-page-1#comment-857 Grant McCracken Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:22:26 +0000 http://grantmccracken.com/cco/http:/grantmccracken/page-title#comment-857 <p>Mr. Paramecium</p> <p>I give you the definition of "cue" from the Merrium Webster dictionary online.</p> <p>Main Entry:<br /> cue <br /> Function:<br /> noun <br /> Etymology:<br /> French queue, literally, tail, from Old French cue, coe, queue, from Latin cauda<br /> Date:<br /> circa 1749</p> <p>1 a: a leather-tipped tapering rod for striking the cue ball (as in billiards and pool) </p> <p>1 b: a long-handled instrument with a concave head for shoving disks in shuffleboard</p> <p>2: queue</p> Mr. Paramecium

I give you the definition of "cue" from the Merrium Webster dictionary online.

Main Entry:
cue
Function:
noun
Etymology:
French queue, literally, tail, from Old French cue, coe, queue, from Latin cauda
Date:
circa 1749

1 a: a leather-tipped tapering rod for striking the cue ball (as in billiards and pool)

1 b: a long-handled instrument with a concave head for shoving disks in shuffleboard

2: queue

]]> By: Mr. Paramecium http://cultureby.com/2009/02/the-anthropolog.html/comment-page-1#comment-856 Mr. Paramecium Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:10:18 +0000 http://grantmccracken.com/cco/http:/grantmccracken/page-title#comment-856 <p>It's the queue rule, not the cue rule. QUEUE. With a Q.</p> <p>It seriously undermines trust in anthropology if its practitioners can't even use the right words for the things they're studying.</p> It's the queue rule, not the cue rule. QUEUE. With a Q.

It seriously undermines trust in anthropology if its practitioners can't even use the right words for the things they're studying.

]]> By: Alan http://cultureby.com/2009/02/the-anthropolog.html/comment-page-1#comment-855 Alan Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:58:39 +0000 http://grantmccracken.com/cco/http:/grantmccracken/page-title#comment-855 <p>Thanks for that biblio, Grant. I would certainly add Paul Fussell's Class. And for that matter, I might also add the plays written by A.R. Gurney ... "The Dining Room," etc.</p> Thanks for that biblio, Grant. I would certainly add Paul Fussell's Class. And for that matter, I might also add the plays written by A.R. Gurney … "The Dining Room," etc.

]]> By: Jeremy http://cultureby.com/2009/02/the-anthropolog.html/comment-page-1#comment-854 Jeremy Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:54:13 +0000 http://grantmccracken.com/cco/http:/grantmccracken/page-title#comment-854 <p>There's probably an unspoken rule about correcting others, but I'm willing to stand patiently and take my turn in the queue to do so.</p> There's probably an unspoken rule about correcting others, but I'm willing to stand patiently and take my turn in the queue to do so.

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