A MODERNISTS VIEW OF SOCIAL-STRATIFICATIO N

It looks like that the discrepancies between the stratification struct ure predicted by sociological or modernistic view and the actual Japan ese society became wide. Among those, some arguments about equality of distribution and that of opportunity, toward which sociological view of stratification seems to have oriented overtly or covertly, are exam ined. As a result, an uneasy and unstable composition of social strati fication in Japan today and tomorrow is delineated as follows. Many Ja panese are sensitive to social status or stratification as before, and the level of employeezation in Japan is close to the highest,then the achievement-oriented and competitive society will be realized involvi ng women with higher education. However, the goal of the competition m ay be some dimensions of social evaluation such as prestige, and the i mportance of income will be lessened. At the same time, the ''de-strat ification'' group who are indifferent to social status and stratificat ion from ''middle'' class will appear, although the number of the peop le is small yet and their behavior is apt to be misidentified as ''dis tinction'' by life style. And, protests with ''fatness'' as a common k eyword against ascriptive inequalities in achievement society will be increased.