ABSTRACT
The concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ does not refer to the most statistically common type of man but rather to the most desired form in relation to social, cultural and institutional ideals (Connell, 1995: 77). In post-war Japan, the sararīman, 1 or salary man, came to represent the hegemonic form of masculinity (Dasgupta, 2000, 2003; Roberson and Suzuki, 2003). Despite the clear conception and common recognition of corporate masculinity as hegemonic, empirical research on Japanese salarymen and their masculinity is still relatively undeveloped. Empirical research has often focused on marginal masculinities, while consideration of salarymen themselves has often focused on working lives. Since economic restructuring in the 1990s, the salaryman ideal has had to withstand the waning of corporate wealth and power, the hollowing out of enterprise society and casualization of employment. Nonetheless, corporate workers’ masculinities remain central to notions of manliness and masculinity and continue to play a hegemonic role in male identities.
