Just within a few decades, the global dream of building a 'middle class society' has vanished almost everywhere, giving way to an emerging global nightmare: 'social exclusion.' France and Japan have been among the most successful societies, taken as examples by the rest of the world that it is indeed possible for a nation to include almost an entire population in the middle class. However, even these two countries have suffered increasing disillusion since the 1980s. The main concern of these countries is now social exclusion. This book analyzes and contrasts the French and Japanese experiences of social exclusion. Although social exclusion in France and Japan are, in many respects, quite similar, in important respects, they are also quite different. Using a wide array of methodologies, the book presents a diverse range of perspectives on the problem of social exclusion and suggests various ways the problem might be resolved.

About Editors and Authors

SATO Yoshimichi

SATO Yoshimichi is a Japanese sociologist and Professor in the Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University. He specializes in sociology, behavioral science and mathematical sociology. After completing a PhD at the Graduate School of Sociology, University of Tokyo, he served as Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Commerce, Yokohama City University, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University, and Visiting Scholar in the Faculty of Sociology, University of Chicago, and at Cornell University. His research interests include social hierarchy, social stratification and mechanisms that generate inequality.

Marc Humbert

Marc Humbert, MD, PhD, is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the Université Paris-Saclay in Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France. Prof. Humbert has published more than 800 peer-reviewed articles, mostly in the field of respiratory medicine with an emphasis on pulmonary hypertension and severe asthma.