Consumer politics in Postwar Japan : the institutional boundaries of citizen activism / Patricia L. Maclachlan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Maclachlan, Patricia L., author.

Series:

Studies of the East Asian Institute.

Studies of the East Asian Institute

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consumer protection--Japan--History.

Consumer protection.

Consumer protection--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (337 pages).

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [2002]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Providing comparisons to the United States and Britain, this book examines Japan's postwar consumer protection movement. Organized largely by and for housewives and spurred by major cases of price gouging and product contamination, the movement led to the passage of basic consumer protection legislation in 1968. Although much of the story concerns the famous "iron triangle" of big business, national bureaucrats, and conservative party politics, Maclachlan takes a broader perspective. She points to the importance of activity at the local level, the role of minority parties, the limited utility of the courts, and the place of lawyers and academics in providing access to power. These mild social strategies have resulted in a significant amount of consumer protection.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part 1. Japanese Consumer Advocacy from Theoretical, Comparative, and Historical Perspectives

1. Toward a Framework for the Study of Consumer Advocacy

2. Consumer Advocacy in the United States and Britain

3. The Politics of an Emerging Consumer Movement: The Occupation Period

4. Consumer Politics Under Early One-Party Dominance: 1955 to the Late 1960s

5. The Post-1968 Consumer Protection Policymaking System and the Consumer Movement's Response

Part 2. Case Studies: The Impact of Japanese Consumer Advocacy on Policymaking

6. The Right to Choose: The Movement to Amend the Antimonopoly Law

7. The Right to Safety: The Movement to Oppose the Deregulation of Food Additives

8. The Right to Redress: The Movement to Enact a Product Liability Law

9. The Right to Be Heard: The Past, Present, and Future of the Japanese Consumer Movement

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (pages [277]-304) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780231505611

0231505612

OCLC:

1013944700