Getting started: conceptualisation

Research begins with an interest, ideas and a plan of what to look for. I started this research interested in the link between inequality and deviance for subordinate groups in Japan. At the beginning, Japanese women were included along with Japanese youth and foreign migrants as subordinate groups. In research, however, things do not always go as planned. Japanese women represent more than half the population and the complexity of adequately covering inequality and deviance for them became too large and beyond what this one writer could do. Having already collected a good deal of data on Japanese women, it was then decided that some of this information could be included as a transitional phase of inequality and deviance for Japanese females from adolescence to adulthood in the chapter on Japanese youth.

It was essential to set up a design that allowed for a meaningful, consistent and compatible inquiry. Initially, the main concepts such as inequality, deviance, Japanese youth and foreign migrants were defined and time-ordered relationships set forth such as deviance to be explained by or dependent on inequality. The study proceeded in an inductive manner. Unlike the traditional deductive method where hypotheses are deducted from theory and then tested, induction proceeds by collecting the data and matching the data with an appropriate theory. Given that little had been done on the subject of inequality and deviance in Japan, particularly the link between the two concepts, induction seemed to be a more suitable method than a deductive approach.

While data gathering and inductive interpretation characterised the research, data gathering proceeded based on a conceptual schema that lent itself to a conflict interpretation. Inequality as a mainstay concept needed a common conceptual link for youth and foreign migrants and that was done utilising the concept of subcultures. Conflict theory with its emphasis on power and privilege differentials in society was applicable to the conditions of inequality and, subsequently, deviance. Both youth and foreign migrants are in a subordinate status to adults with the power and privilege to maintain and control societal affairs, the dominant subculture group. In regards to human rights, youth are subordinate to adults and foreign migrants secondary to Japanese nationals. Realising within-group inequality, class stratification for each subordinate subculture group was also considered relevant to power and privilege differentials and variations of deviance.