A Review of Social and Cultural Causes of Hikikomori: Collectivism in Japan

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.220110.139How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Hikikomori; Collectivism; Conformity; the Lost Decades; Masculinity; Social ostracism

Abstract

The Hikikomori phenomenon, first observed in 1970s Japan, is particularly characterized by severe social withdrawal and a refusal for social interpersonal relationships. The hikikomori phenomenon was first observed in the 1970s in Japan and started to boost after the collapse of the 1990s bubble economy, which dealt a blow to the public confidence of adults and adolescents. Hikikomori was widely accepted as a cultural syndrome unique to Japan, where the deeply rooted collectivist values seem to leave room for the prevalence of social withdrawal. Despite the fact that an increasing number of cross-country studies on the global prevalence of hikikomori are helping scholars better understand the relationship between the formation of hikikomori groups and domestic values in one country, more detailed and embedded investigations focused on Japanese culture are needed to draw a macroscopic analysis on the nature of hikikomori and its prevalence in Japan. This review aims to provide basic information for the rationale causes of the hikikomori phenomenon in social and cultural contexts. The hikikomori phenomenon will be assessed in relation to Japan’s culture-specific syndrome, including collectivist values, social ostracism, and peer rejection. This review also includes the effect of the economy collapsing on the social expectation of Japanese youths during the 1990s; and how the economic recession leads to hikikomori from the perspective of masculine hegemony adherents in Japanese culture. The prevalence of the Hikikomori phenomenon among Japanese youths is analyzed, and this involves not uncommon school bullying, peer rejection, and familial ignorance due to the social stigma related to Japanese cultural values of collectivism.

Copyright

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.

Open Access

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zijia Guo
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/01/28
TI  - A Review of Social and Cultural Causes of Hikikomori: Collectivism in Japan
BT  - Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Public Art and Human Development ( ICPAHD 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 727
EP  - 731
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220110.139
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.220110.139
ID  - Guo2022
ER  -