CIRJE-J-72 『戦前の日本社会の貧しさと働く女性たちの心性 −明治期大阪府泉南地方の事例を手掛かりとして−』
"Why were Japanese People not Wealthy before the Second World War? ---Evidence from Mind and Job Search of Girls Living in the Sennan District of Osaka Prefecture, 1878-1912"
Author Name 荻山正浩(Masahiro Ogiyama)
Date April 2002
Full Paper PDF file (only Japanese version available)
Remarks 改訂のうえ博士学位請求論文として提出、審査中。
Abstract (Japanese) Abstract (English)


Any country will thrive by industrialization because a lot of goods and services will be produced during industrialization. In Japan, however, before the Second World War people could not be wealthy although she industrialized rapidly. In this regard it has been emphasized that there was so much labor force in Japan that oversupply of labor had prevented real wages people gained from rising. But, instead of it, this article shows that whether people could be rich or not depended on the way they chose jobs, by exploring mind and job search of girls living in the Sennan district of Osaka prefecture in the late 19th and early 20th century. Before industrialization girls living in the Sennan district had made money by producing cotton threads and cotton cloths at home or by working as domestic servants in rich households living nearby. In addition, after the beginning of industrialization girls were able to work in factories because a cotton spinning mill and weaving factories were built in the Sennan district. In this situation it was less profitable for girls to work at home than to work outside home as domestic servants or factory workers. Nevertheless girls were so eager to work with their families that they would work at home rather than work outside home. As a result girls earned less money by working at home, although they could have gained much money by working as domestic servants or factory workers.