A Comparative Analysis of Social Stratification in Japan, Korea and Taiwan: Where is the Locus of Social Inequality?*

This paper examines the ways in which individual’s income and subjective social status are determined by one’s work-related and personal factors and studies the ways in which social contexts shape social stratification in Japan, (South) Korea, and Taiwan from a comparative perspective. The empirical analysis using the 2005 SSM survey data has revealed that institutional factors such as Japanese employment practices strongly affect individuals’ remuneration and status and make the stratification structure highly multidimensional in Japan. While occupation, among work-related factors, is the predominant determinant of one’s income and subjective social status in Taiwan, employment type and firm size (only for men) also have a considerable independent influence in Japan. Korea appears to be placed between Japan and Taiwan. Among personal factors, the influence of age is striking for men in Japan, although it is slight for women. These results suggest the seniority-based personnel practices and additional benefits for working at large firms have strong influence on one’s status in Japan, while women and non-standard workers are institutionally excluded from these benefits. We can conclude that the selection of the beneficiaries of the Japanese employment practices is one of the essential factors generating social inequalities in Japan.