Abstract
Approximately 3 per cent of the population of Japan belong to an indigenous minority group—known as Burakumin—against whom prejudice and discrimination still exist. After many years of activity the Burakumin Liberation Movement pressured the government into launching an affirmative action programme which has been in operation for 15 years. However, the ‘Burakumin problem’ has generated fierce controversy within Japanese society, not least between the Japan Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Japan and their supporters within the liberation movement. The paper concentrates on their different theoretical approaches to the problem and discusses some of the practical consequences of the controversy.
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