Based on extensive survey data, this book examines how the population of Japan has experienced and processed three decades of rapid social change from the highly egalitarian high growth economy of the 1980s to the economically stagnating and demographically shrinking gap society of the 2010s.

Carola Hommerich is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Sophia University, Japan.

Naoki Sudo is Professor in the Faculty of Law at Gakushuin University, Japan.

Toru Kikkawa is Professor in the Graduate School of Human Sciences at Osaka University, Japan.

Introduction 1. Understanding Heisei: Anchoring amidst Transformation Part 1: Deciphering the 'Middle' - Subtle Change Behind the Scenes 1. Images of Social Stratification and the "Gap Society" 2. Change or No Change? The Complex Relationship between Status Groups and Status Identification in Heisei Japan Part 2: Adapting to change - Social consciousness over the Heisei Period 1. Adapting to new realities? Educational Disparity in Mechanisms of Status Identification among Young Japanese 2. Civil society: Who participates? 3. Support for Government Redistribution Programs in the Age of Welfare Retrenchment: Workers' Changing Attitudes 4. Employment status as social status: Changes in the life satisfaction of regular and non-regular employees 5. Conservative Youth? Why do young people become authoritarian and support the LDP? 6. Why do married women in Japan support unequal gender norm of "working and caring? Conclusion 1. Japan after the Heisei Period - Where are we heading?