Abstract
This paper revisits the correspondence principle of Bowles and Gintis (1976) – which refers to the mutual mimicking of the capitalist hierarchy in the workplace and the school. The Bowles-Gintis model still appears to be working in the context of schooling in Japan. In the international comparative educational assessment called PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), created by OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the association of advanced democratic nations), Japanese students achieve better results than most countries. Japanese students excel in PISA performance, especially in mathematics. Such excellence, however, has negative correlations with students’ creativity, positive attitudes, and independence. The PISA performance shows positive correlations with patience, rigor, and the attitude of ‘belonging to school’. Furthermore, Japanese students do not establish good relationships with their teachers. Based on these findings, this paper discusses critically the impact of decades-long Japanese recession on school-going young generations of Japanese. In general, it appears that – in Japan – the instilling and mimicking of strict hierarchy continues in the schools, and in workplaces.
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Recommended Citation
Takemura, Masaaki
(2018)
"Education, Enterprise Capitalism, and Equity Challenges: The Continuing Relevance of the Correspondence Principle in Japan,"
Markets, Globalization & Development Review:
Vol. 3:
No.
4, Article 4.
DOI: 10.23860/MGDR-2018-03-04-04
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Author Bio
Masaaki Takemura is Professor at School of Commerce, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan. After graduating from Kobe University, Kobe, Japan, he worked at the Faculty of Economics, Shiga University for 12 years. He wrote several macromarketing themed papers on social consumption and social class. Later, he moved to the School of Commerce, Meiji University, Tokyo. Since 2011, he has attended and presented at some of the Macromarketing conferences. His current research focus in on revitalization of rural areas in Japan and the history of consumption in Japan.