ABSTRACT
Many narratives of postwar Japanese society discuss how individuals were strongly integrated into groups, and groups into a Japanese society that was more coherent and solidary than its Western counterparts. Issues of exclusion and discrimination were not ignored but tended to be understood as conditions that affected individuals because they were members of particular groups, which should therefore engage in collective action. However, following the end of Japan’s era of economic expansion, and linked to the global spread of neoliberal thinking and policy, issues of exclusion and discrimination have become seen as more individual than collective. This chapter outlines this shift, sketching out the broad historical and social background to the articles in this volume.
