Social capital and labor politics in Japan : cooperation or cooptation?
By: BROADBENT, Jeffrey P
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ArticlePublisher: Dordrecht, Netherlands : Springer, December 2000Policy Sciences 33, 3-4, p. 307-321Abstract: Social capital, derived from voluntary cooperative relationships and memberships, is thought to enhance a groups capacity to attain a common good. Japan enjoys plentiful social capital, which affects all aspects of society, even politics. One would expect that social capital would facilitate parties to arrive at equitable labor policies and reduce overt political conflict in Japan. Has this cooperation occurred, or has labor been coopted? My study addresses this question through the analysis of networks among organizations active in labor-related policy decisions. I focus on Japan with some reference to the United States. The analysis shows that, indeed, networks of social capital weave together government, business, and labor very tightly in Japan (but only labor in the U.S.). The more tightly social capital ties labor to the state, the less it differs from the states preferred policy. Intense differences of material interests, though, as indicated by the case of a health care policy decision, weaken this integrative capacity of social capital. The Labor Ministry tries to use social capital to build consensus between labor and business, but diverging interests erode such consensus. These findings indicate that even under favorable conditions, social capital exists in tension with more instrumental interest patterns
Social capital, derived from voluntary cooperative relationships and memberships, is thought to enhance a groups capacity to attain a common good. Japan enjoys plentiful social capital, which affects all aspects of society, even politics. One would expect that social capital would facilitate parties to arrive at equitable labor policies and reduce overt political conflict in Japan. Has this cooperation occurred, or has labor been coopted? My study addresses this question through the analysis of networks among organizations active in labor-related policy decisions. I focus on Japan with some reference to the United States. The analysis shows that, indeed, networks of social capital weave together government, business, and labor very tightly in Japan (but only labor in the U.S.). The more tightly social capital ties labor to the state, the less it differs from the states preferred policy. Intense differences of material interests, though, as indicated by the case of a health care policy decision, weaken this integrative capacity of social capital. The Labor Ministry tries to use social capital to build consensus between labor and business, but diverging interests erode such consensus. These findings indicate that even under favorable conditions, social capital exists in tension with more instrumental interest patterns
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