How did workers who died from job-related accidents become the company's "guardian god"? : Focusing on the politics between employers and workers concerning on the practice of "safety" during the high economic growth era in Japan

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  • 殉職者はいかにして企業守護神となりえたか : 「安全」理念の実践をめぐる労使間のポリティクスを中心に
  • ジュンショクシャ ワ イカニ シテ キギョウ シュゴジン ト ナリ エタ カ アンゼン リネン ノ ジッセン オ メグル ロウシ カン ノ ポリティクス オ チュウシン ニ

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Abstract

This research considers the process of making safety practices habitual from the viewpoint of management anthropology, and how workers who died from job-related accidents became the company's "guardian god". In Japan, the idea of "safety", and the methods of practicing safety did not previously exist. This was one technology which was imported from the United States in the Taisho Era for workmen's accident prevention and personnel management. A main stage in which "safety" was first practiced was Yahata Steel Company. Yahata Steel was established as a government-managed iron mill in 1901. It wasn't until the postwar period that the full-scale practice actually took affect. The industrial accidents that increased rapidly due to high economic growth contributed to the development of countermeasures for safety. One of the main ideas concerning "safety" was a concept based on the distrust of human beings and the idea that they are prone to make mistakes. Therefore, we have to continuously cope with accidents being aware of this "safety idea" to expect and to prevent all the dangers. It was in this process that the managerial side came to require laborers to adopt the safety practices so that they performed them unconsciously. Thus, the laborers were encouraged to adopt safety practices through the "safety first" narratives of the managerial side about being saved due to safety. From 1916, management began telling stories at memorial services "SHOUKON-SAI" about workers who had died due to not practicing safety. In 1982, this memorial service and its contents was changed significantly to a simple format called "IREI-SAI". In comparing this memorial service with the worship of one's ancestors, the former can be considered to be an attempt to exploit the worker's beliefs while making the company prosper, thus making ancestral gods into a company guardian god.

Journal

  • Religion and Society

    Religion and Society 9 (0), 21-41, 2003

    The Japanese Association for the Study of Religion and Society

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