Bicycle citizens : the political world of the Japanese housewife / Robin M. LeBlanc ; with a foreword by Saskia Sassen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

LeBlanc, Robin M., 1966- author.

Contributor:

Sassen, Saskia, writer of foreword.

Series:

Asia--local studies/global themes ; Volume 1.

Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes Series ; Volume 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Housewives--Political activity--Japan.

Housewives.

Housewives--Japan--Social conditions.

Political participation--Japan.

Political participation.

Women--Political activity--Japan.

Women.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, California : University of California Press, [1999]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

While the typical Japanese male politician glides through his district in air-conditioned taxis, the typical female voter trundles along the side streets on a simple bicycle. In this first ethnographic study of the politics of the average female citizen in Japan, Robin LeBlanc argues that this taxi-bicycle contrast reaches deeply into Japanese society. To study the relationship between gender and liberal democratic citizenship, LeBlanc conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in suburban Tokyo among housewives, volunteer groups, consumer cooperative movements, and the members of a committee to reelect a female Diet member who used her own housewife status as the key to victory. LeBlanc argues that contrary to popular perception, Japanese housewives are ultimately not without a political world. Full of new and stimulating material, engagingly written, and deft in its weaving of theoretical perspectives with field research, this study will not only open up new dialogues between gender theory and broader social science concerns but also provide a superb introduction to politics in Japan as a whole.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Note on Names

CHAPTER ONE. "Supposing Truth Is a Woman-What Then?"

CHAPTER TWO. The Identity of the "Regular Housewife55

CHAPTER THREE. Housewives and Citizenship

CHAPTER FOUR. Volunteering against Politics

CHAPTER FIVE. Toward a "Housewifely" Movement

CHAPTER SIX. The Ono Campaign

Conclusion

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-237) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 07. Jul 2020)

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520920613

0520920619

9780585241395

0585241392

OCLC:

1163878316