Great quote
October 9, 2008 at 11:21 am by Joe BardiThe New Republic has been asking people “How will America change as a result of the economic downturn?” I was checking out yesterday’s entry by Michael Lind, a Whitehead Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and director of its American Infrastructure Initiative, when I hit the following statement:
The emerging system might be called “lemon corporatism.” A managerial state dominated by oligopolies and monopolies, where government encourages employer paternalism as an alternative to public welfare spending, would resemble contemporary Japan and the dystopian America of “Rollerball.”
Priceless. The rest of the essay is also worth reading.
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October 9th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
We can all be salary men
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salary_man
Salaryman (??????, Sarar?man?, salaried man) refers to someone whose income is salary based; particularly those working for corporations. Its frequent use by Japanese corporations, and its prevalence in Japanese manga and anime has gradually led to its acceptance in English-speaking countries as a noun for a Japanese white-collar businessman. The word can be found in many books and articles pertaining to Japanese culture. Immediately following World War II, becoming a salaryman was viewed as a gateway to a stable, middle-class lifestyle. In modern use, the term carries associations of long working hours, low prestige in the corporate hierarchy, absence of significant sources of income other than salary, wage slavery, and kar?shi. The term salaryman refers almost exclusively to males.
The prevalence of salarymen in Japanese society has given birth to many depictions by the media and various cartoons. The following are stereotypical images of the salaryman:
* Lifestyle revolves entirely around work at the office.
* Works over-time on a daily basis.
* Diligent but unoriginal.
* Thoroughly obedient to orders from the higher levels of the company.
* Feels a strong emotional bond with co-workers.
* Drinking, golf, and mahjong are the three main social activities that provide stimulation outside of work.
* Lack of initiative and competitiveness.
* Wears a suit, necktie, and dress shoes to work every day without fail.
The image of a lifestyle revolving entirely around work gave birth to the names, shachiku (??, shachiku?) meaning corporate livestock, and kaisha no inu (????, kaisha no inu?) corporate dog, to ridicule salarymen.
The social image may differ according to the time period and economic situation. For example, the salaryman during the Japanese asset price bubble was a business warrior armed with an energy drink, whereas the salaryman in the post-bubble period was a worker cowering in fear of employee cuts or salary-reductions. The image of the salaryman in each period is often reflective of Japan’s social condition as a whole.
[edit] Hobbies
The three stereotypical activities of the salaryman were listed above, but changing social circumstances have greatly diversified their lives outside of work.
Though the importance of social drinking has not declined, its image has changed overtime from mass partying during the economic bubble to conservative consumption at home after the collapse of the economy during the 1990s.
Mahjong was immensely popular among the 1960s generation, who brought the game into company circles directly from high school and college groups. The 1970s generation saw a gradual decrease in the number of avid mahjong players, and by the 1980s, it became common to not show any interest at all. Some current salarymen may have never touched a mahjong board in their lives.
Golf became widely popular during the economic bubble, when golf club passes became useful tools for currying favor with corporate executives. Many mid-level salarymen were pressured into taking up golf to participate in golfing events with their bosses. The collapse of the economic bubble led to the closing of many of these golf courses, and the ritual of playing golf with executives has become increasingly rare. However, some current salarymen may have golfing experience from their student days, and golf is still acknowledged as an expensive hobby for salarymen.
An interesting recent phenomenon is the otaku salaryman. The 2000s has seen the rise of this type of salaryman, who appears perfectly ordinary at work, but is actually an intense otaku in his private life. It is currently not uncommon for salarymen to have a wide range of hobbies, but the “otaku as salaryman” is still treated as a relatively new entity in Japanese culture.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Wow, Ed. Thanks for the background on the salary men. Before reading this, most of what I knew about Japanese work culture came from repeated viewings of the Michael Keaton flick “Gung Ho.”
October 9th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Interesting essay..thanks for sharing.
I think government intervention into this latest crisis has opened pandora’s box, and we can never go back - regardless of D or R managing our government.
I am sorry to see the erosion of small business entrepreneurship…however, perhaps the massive corporations Lind envisions will become so swollen that one day American demand for localized, efificent products will allow small business to once again compete on the open market