Mari Osawa

Gendering the Knowledge Economy: Comparative Perspectives

List of figures List of tables Preface Notes on Editors PART ONE: RE-CONCEPTUALIZING THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY, GENDER AND REGULATION Introduction: Theorizing the Gendering of the New Economy: Comparative Approaches S.Walby Gender and the Conceptualization of the Knowledge Economy in Comparison K.Shire PART TWO: COMPARATIVE REGULATION Comparative Livelihood Security Systems from a Gender Perspective, with a Focus on Japan M.Osawa Varieties of Gender Regimes and Regulating Gender Equality at Work in the Global Context I.Lenz Similar Outcomes, Different Paths: The Cross-National Transfer of Gendered Regulations of Employment G.S.Roberts PART THREE: GENDERING NEW EMPLOYMENT FORMS Self-Employment in Comparative Perspective: General Trends and the Case of New Media K.Gottschall & D.Kroos Living and Working in the New Economy: New Opportunities and Old Social Divisions in the Cases of the New Media and Carework D.Perrons Are Care Workers Knowledge Workers? M.Nishikawa & K.Tanaka Who Gets to be a Knowledge Worker? The Case of UK Call Centres S.Durbin Restructuring Gendered Flexibility in Organizations: A Comparative Analysis of Call Centres in Germany U.Holtgrewe Appendix I Bibliography

A Reverse-Functioning System: Japan’s Social Security System and Tax Progression in the Early Twenty-First Century

This chapter brings attention to the fact that more than simply being dysfunctional, Japan’s tax and social security scheme is ‘reverse-functioning’, in the sense that contrary to solving problems it is supposed to be addressing, the system is actually exacerbating them. Section ‘“A Common Stream” and Abe’s “Basic Policies”’ briefly reviews the history of how governmental agencies have recognized the functions of social security. Section ‘Exclusion and Poverty Effects of Japan’s Social Security System’ describes two major aspects of the reverse-functioning. Firstly, the social insurance system is by its design excluding certain groups. Secondly, income redistribution through tax and social security deepens poverty for many categories. Section ‘Changes in the Tax and Social Security Burden and Level of Progressivity Over Time’ examines the characteristics of Japan’s income redistribution and its progressivity using data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which leads to the conclusions in Section ‘Conclusion and Outlook’.