The challenges of political socialization of the contemporary Japanese youth
Abstract
The main problems of political socialization of Japanese youth arestudied in the paper. According to the author’s point of view, participation inthe election process, youth movements, and a growing interest in internationalissues are the principal trends and the main indicators of Japanese youth’spolitical activity and political socialization of young people in contemporaryJapanese society. Political socialization is the transmission of political culture to new generationsof citizens in a given society and it includes such activities as voting campaigns,attending meetings, joining political parties, taking part in political discussions,еtс. Whether young people have ability to quickly adapt to the changingcircumstances of the world around them depends on the process of politicalsocialization. The difficulties that characterize the Japanese youth’s politicalsocialization process during the last decade and its outcomes have becomeespecially evident now - young people exhibit a less developed sense of civic duty,and take the obligations of citizenship more lightly than older generations. Oneof the factors influencing young people’s tendency to be engaged in civic andpolitical activities may be the fact that the traditional mobilizing institutions ofpolitics in Japan are not especially interested in reaching out to young people. Inthe article the main problems of political socialization of Japanese youth areexamined. Using the data from large-scale surveys of Pew Research Center andsome data of Mainichi Shimbun surveys carried out in 2017, the author analyzeswhether young Japanese people are active participants of political process or playthe role of unconcerned spectators.
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Zhilina L.V. The challenges of political socialization of the contemporary Japanese youth. Russian Japanology Review. 2019;2(1):57-80. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24411/2658-6789-2019-10003
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