Social and Economic Sustainable Developments in Japan's super-ageing society

Abstract

This thesis has the objective to investigate the themes of Social and Economic Sustainability and to discover if they hold the keys to become concrete political and managerial guidelines for the future. Regarding Sustainability, numerous studies and even recent policies have focused their efforts mainly on the Environmental dimension, some industries going as far as exploiting this ethical “etiquette” as a marketing strategy or fraud. What is left often as a superficial consideration is the matter of societal issues, which in turn are influenced and influence the market and the political mindset of a country. By studying such topics this research hopes to shed light on the unused potential of true Sustainable Development in Japan, a country long affected by severe demographical problems and a perfect case study in regards to underdeveloped social sustainable means. The study can be divided into three main focuses, where the first consists of a premise on what constitutes Sustainability, from early considerations and models up to more recent legal developments and an historic segment on its institutionalisation. The second and third parts point the attention to the increasingly aging population and gender gap problems, seeing from an historic, institutional and social points of view. They can be delineated as such:

• The Elderly Demographic, what are the causes of this phenomenon and the future prospects? How are the active population and government engaging and fighting it?

• Women and work conditions, why are women more prone to sacrifice their careers in order to care for family? Should some laws/policies be revisited in light of a new shared contemporary mindset?

A question applied to both is also whether it would be possible to bring these two demographics back into the active working population in order to help generate support and lessen the intergenerational debt. In other words, considering a more sustainable future, using concrete sustainable plans even in matters relating to managing society and disrupting the traditional order could be a way to create a better future?