BA English Language and Japanese / Course details

This course will provide a broad investigation into social inequality with a specific focus on how race, class, and gender intersect in contemporary Japan and South Korea. By tracing the rapid social and economic development of Japanese and Korean societies, this course places the Japanese and Korean experiences in the Asian and global context and illuminates various social problems these societies face today. Within Japan and South Korea, we will examine the role that differences in cities, race, gender, and social class played in their 20th and 21st century. Through our reading, lecture, and class discussion, we seek answers to the questions that motivate academic inquiries into inequality in the two East Asian societies: who gets what? Who is included and excluded? Does culture contribute to inequality? How and why? Should/can inequality be addressed?

Upon completion of the course, participants should:

• Develop familiarity with and critical understanding of classic debates and recent developments related to social inequality in Japan and South Korea.
• Learn to appreciate and apply sociological insight in understanding social structure and processes in general and East Asia in particular.
• Be able to write and speak about these ideas effectively.

This syllabus provides representative examples of the topics covered. Please note that the exact topics covered and their order may change.
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Ideas of Class
Week 3: The Making and Unmaking of the Middle Class
Week 4: Working Class and Precariat
Week 5: Growing Up Unequal
Week 6: READING WEEK
Week 7: Psychological and Cultural Sources of Gender Discrimination
Week 8: Gender Inequality at Home and Workplace
Week 9: Politics of Gender Backlash
Week 10: Racism – Then and Now
Week 11: Migration and Society’s Responses
Week 12: Why Race, Class and Gender Matter

• Three weekly hours in the class (two hours lecture, one hour seminar) for 11 weeks.
   
• Two consultation hours per week.
   
• Further consultation on demand.

Students should be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of major aspects of inequality in modern Japan and South Korea.
• Demonstrate critical understanding of key concepts of race, gender, and social class, especially as they apply to Japan and South Korea.
   

Students should be able to:

• Articulate critical analysis of social inequality with special reference to Japan and South Korea.
• Engage in critical reading and discussion of academic writing on social inequality in modern societies, with special reference to Japan and South Korea.

Students should be able to:

• Use library, electronic, and online resources.
• Organise notes derived from lectures, seminars, and reading.

Students should be able to:

• Demonstrate their skills in reasoned presentation, discussion and argument
• Develop personal qualities of independence of mind in order to make ethical judgments.
  Confront their own values as global citizens.

Re-sit Assessment Task : Essay

• Ishida, Hiroshi, and David H. Slater, eds. 2010. Social Class in Contemporary Japan: Structures, Sorting and Strategies. London and New York: Routledge.
• Chiavacci, David, and Carola Hommerich, eds. 2016. Social Inequality in Post-Growth Japan: Transformation during Economic and Demographic Stagnation. London and New York: Routledge.
• Gordon, Andrew. 2019. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Recommend Part 4, in particular.