The Rationalisation and Modernisation of Labour Organisation and the Transformation of Coal Miners’ Lives in Twentieth-century Japan
From the early 1920s to the 1960s Japanese coal mines evolved from an industrial model based on intensive, low-cost labour to a new model involving a Fordist transformation that encouraged the development of a better trained and more directly controlled workforce. However, this process of mechanisin...
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| Udgivet i: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cjs, |
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprog: | Anglais |
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Cipango - French Journal of Japanese Studies
2023
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| Online adgang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Summary: | From the early 1920s to the 1960s Japanese coal mines evolved from an industrial model based on intensive, low-cost labour to a new model involving a Fordist transformation that encouraged the development of a better trained and more directly controlled workforce. However, this process of mechanising production, rationalising labour and standardising mining communities’ lifestyles had a variety of impacts, not all of them positive. As early as the 1930s, “rationalisation” was labelled a threat by the unions, presented as the main cause of labour intensification and the growing number of workplace accidents and mining disasters hitting the industry at the time. In order to analyse the different stages and consequences of this process of change, this paper focuses on a variety of issues, including the organisation of production, wage systems, occupational hygiene, employer-miner dialogue and material living conditions such as housing. |
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