Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2016, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (4): 186-211.

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A Class Analysis of Taiwan under Japanese Colonial Occupation

LI Shuanglong1, LIN Thung-hong2   

  1. 1. Social Work Development and Research Center, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics;
    2. Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica
  • Online:2016-07-20 Published:2016-07-20
  • Supported by:

    The research is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JBK1606,JBK1609120).

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Abstract:

The existing empirical studies on class structure and social mobility have centered on advanced Western capitalist nations and post-socialist countries. Little has been done about colonialized societies under imperialist occupation. This study draws data from the newly created Colonial Taiwan Household Registration Database to examine the class structure and social mobility of Taiwanese society under Japan's imperialist rule. Occupation categories were recoded under the EGP class schema and the multinomial logistic regression model was employed to estimate the odds ratio of class mobility. The study finds that the longer the Japanese occupation, the more proletarian the population had become. There was a dramatic decline of Taiwanese industrial ownership and self-employment during, the occupation. After the 1920s the rural population decline gradually stabilized. Because urban land owners continued the tradition of partitioning out land to married children, there was a “reverse population flow” from urban to rural. In contrast, rural farmers stood little chance to leave countryside for urban employment. Our study contributes to the understanding of social mobility in Taiwan during Japan's occupation as well as the class inequality in a colonized society.

Key words: class structure, class mobility, colonial Taiwan, multinomial logistic regression, proletarianization