Cultural Diversity as Social Demand

Abstract

Social demand varies with the cultural context of media policy. This article examines social demand in the context of the zainichi, the Korean-Japanese who constitute Japan’s largest ethnic minority group, via a series of theoretical and empirical contributions to the literature on social demand. First, the article theorizes social demand in terms of Schelsky’s sociological theory of institutions, analysing broadcasting through what, the author argues, are key strands to its institutional alignment - its relationship with the historic emergence of journalism, of industry and of recreation within the modern capitalist nation-state. Especially in a context where this nation-state is being rethought, what are the blindspots of Japanese broadcasting law and policy? How does the complex process of identity production among the zainichi interface with the system for which these laws and policies are responsible? And how might social demand function as a medium and resource for improving and widening the civic interactions which this interface permits?