Meritocracy and Gender Bias

• Project/Area Number: 09610244
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Educaion
• Research Institution: Ochanomizu University
• Principal Investigator: MIMIZUKA Hiroaki Faculty of Letters and Education, Professor, 文教育学部, 教授 (40143333)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): NAKANISHI Yuko Musashi University Department of Sociology, Full-time Lecturer, 社会学部, 専任講師 (90282904)
• Project Period (FY): 1997 – 1998
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 1998)
• Budget Amount: ¥1,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000); Fiscal Year 1998: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000); Fiscal Year 1997: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000)
• Keywords: Sociology of Education / Gender and Education / Aspiration / Social Status / Social Mobility and Education

Research Abstract

We administered a questionnaire survey to 151 adults as an investigative survey about women's social status. Our final purpose is to reexamine the concept of social status from the gender perspective and we regard this research as a basis.
As the studies on social stratification or social class extended its subject, the discussions about measuring unit of social status arose. In Japan such discussions were based upon the researches about class consciousness and, status-sharing model (the model of social status whose unit is a household) was regarded one of the characteristics of women. First we tried an investigative approach to the issue of social status measurement through the estimations of social status. Its findings are ; (1) the rules that applied to the estimations of social status depend on the ascription of a person to be estimated, not depend on the gender of a person to estimate, (2) in some cases status-sharing model seems valid to men also.
It is also supposed that the estimation of the women's social status is deeply concerned with the judgment of value for career pattern, so we try to research the intention of people through the estimation for 9 women's models. The first finding is that we can't simply grasp the intention of people by the 2 divided aspects "marriage or job". The second is that the important element concerned with the intention is the job for men, and the age for women.
Last, we focus on the construction of occupational status from the viewpoint of job-changes. Consequently, it is important for both men and women to use personal network when they searched job. But it needs to be careful the women's condition of job-changes.