Salaryman - Salaryman

A salaried worker. A Japanese-English word that began to be used in the Meiji period. Salary is the Latin word for "salt and gold." It originates from the fact that soldiers were given money to buy salt in ancient Rome. As capitalism developed, the production process became more collaborative, science and technology became more widely used, and industrial sectors became more closely connected. In addition to the manual laborers who worked in the manufacturing process and labor, new occupations were formed: office workers, technicians, managerial workers, and workers in the commercial, financial, and service sectors. As the demand for public services increased, the number of civil servants in the central and local governments also increased. In this way, people who are not engaged in the manufacturing process or in the operational sector but who earn a salary by selling their labor are usually called salaried workers. According to the 2007 Basic Survey on Employment Structure by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, professional and technical workers, managerial workers, and clerical workers account for 40% of the total number of employees in Japan (excluding executives), at approximately 21 million.

In the 1960s and 1970s, an international debate took place within the Marxist theoretical camp over whether or not salaried workers should be considered members of the working class. In Japan, the view that salaried workers are also workers is prevalent, but in France and other countries, the view that the scope of the working class is limited to productive workers who produce surplus value and excludes salaried workers is strong. In Japan, during the process of democratization after World War II, the status distinction between factory workers and office workers was abolished, and company unions that included all of them were organized. In addition, during the period of high economic growth, the rate of students continuing on to higher education increased regardless of their social class, and children of factory workers were also able to become salaried workers, so the basis for making a clear distinction between the two has weakened. Furthermore, with the introduction of industrial robots and NC (numerically controlled) lathes in the production process, operational workers also began to take on some technical labor, and in terms of the content of their work, salaried workers and operational workers have become closer.

Debates also arose over the position of the salaried worker class in the social and labor movement. For example, there was the theory of the "new working class," which was premised on the recognition that modern capitalism is at a stage where scientific and technological knowledge is the decisive productive force, and which argued that technical and managerial workers, who are the bearers of scientific and technological knowledge, are the ones who will play a leading role in social change. Conversely, there was also the view that viewed the growth of the salaried worker class as the growth of the "new middle class," and rejected the class conflict between labor and management (capital) under capitalism, and the impoverishment of the working class, including the salaried worker class.

In Japan before World War II, the Tokyo Salaried Workers' Union (SMU) was formed in June 1919 (Taisho 8) by bank employees and government officials as a movement for the salaried worker class. In May 1926, the Japan Salaried Workers' Union Federation was formed, and under the influence of the Council (Japan Trade Union Council), it led labor disputes, but due to government repression, the movement stagnated and disappeared. After the war, company unions including factory workers and office workers were organized, so a labor union movement unique to the salaried worker class was not established, and a separate National Salaried Workers' Alliance was formed in April 1969 (Showa 44) to demand tax cuts for salaried workers. This alliance formed the Salaried Workers' New Party for the 1983 House of Councillors election, and had two members elected with the policy goal of breaking down unfair tax systems, but was dissolved in 1992 (Heisei 4).

Since the long recession of the 1990s, middle-aged and older white-collar workers (salarymen) have become the main targets of corporate restructuring (reduction in personnel), and their status has become more precarious than ever. Incidentally, since "salaryman" was originally a term that assumed male status, the gender-neutral "salary person" has come to be used instead.

[Goga Kazumichi]

"A Study of Modern Salarymen" by Hiroshi Akita (1979, Shin Nihon Shuppansha) " ▽ "Japanese Salarymen - An International Comparison" edited by Tamotsu Sengoku (1982, NHK Publishing)" ▽ "Salarymen New Party (ed.) Salarymen White Paper" (1985, Chukyo Publishing)" ▽ "Documents: Salarymen of the World" edited and published by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (1990)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

給与生活者のこと。明治期に用いられ始めた和製英語。サラリーsalaryはラテン語の「塩金」にあたることば。古代ローマで、兵士に塩を買うために金(かね)が与えられたことに由来する。資本主義が発展し、生産過程の協業化、科学技術の応用が進み、産業諸部門間の関連が緊密になると、工場内の製造工程や労務作業に従事する現業労働者（肉体労働者）に加えて、事務職員、技術者、管理的労働者や、商業・金融・サービス部門に従事する労働者が新たに形成されてきた。また公共サービスに対する需要が増加するとともに、中央政府や地方自治体の公務員が増大した。このように製造工程や現業部門に従事しないが、労働力を販売して給与を得て生活している人々を通例サラリーマンとよんでいる。2007年（平成19）の総務省「就業構造基本調査」によれば、日本の雇用者（ただし役員を除く）のなかで専門的・技術的職業従事者や管理的職業従事者、事務従事者は約2100万人で、4割を占めている。

　サラリーマンの階級的帰属について、労働者階級の一員とみるか否かをめぐって、1960年代から1970年代にかけてマルクス主義の理論陣営内部において国際的論争が行われた。日本ではサラリーマンも労働者であるとする見解が多いが、フランスなどでは、労働者階級の範囲を、剰余価値を生産する生産的労働者に限定し、サラリーマンを除外する見解が強い。日本では、第二次世界大戦後の民主化の過程で工員・職員間の身分的区別が撤廃され、これらすべてを含む企業別組合が組織されたこと、また、高度成長期になると、出身階層を問わず進学率が上昇し、工場労働者の子弟もサラリーマンになる条件があることなど、両者を画然と区別する根拠が薄れた。さらに生産工程に産業ロボットやNC（数値制御）旋盤が導入されるとともに現業労働者も技術的労働の一部を担うようになり、職務内容の面でもサラリーマンと現業労働者の接近がみられる。

　サラリーマン層の社会・労働運動における位置をめぐっても論争が行われた。たとえば、現代資本主義は科学技術的知識を決定的な生産力とする段階にあるとの認識を前提に、科学技術的知識の担い手である技術・管理労働者こそ社会変革の指導的役割を果たすとする「新しい労働者階級」論や、逆にサラリーマン層の増大を「新中間層」の増大とみて、資本主義のもとでの労使（資）の階級対立やサラリーマン層を含む労働者階級の貧困化を否定する見解も登場した。

　第二次世界大戦前の日本ではサラリーマン層の運動として、1919年（大正8）6月に銀行員、官公吏などで東京俸給生活者同盟（SMU）が組織された。1926年5月には日本俸給生活者組合連盟が結成され、評議会（日本労働組合評議会）の影響のもとに労働争議の指導にあたったが、政府の弾圧により、その運動は停滞、消滅した。戦後は工員、職員を含む企業別組合が組織されたため、サラリーマン層独自の労働組合運動は成立せず、それとは別にサラリーマン減税を要求する全国サラリーマン同盟が1969年（昭和44）4月に結成された。この同盟は、1983年の参議院議員選挙の際、サラリーマン新党を結成し、不公平税制の打破を政策目標に掲げて2名を当選させたが1992年（平成4）解党した。

　1990年代の長期不況以降、中高年ホワイトカラー（サラリーマン）は企業のリストラ（人員削減）のおもな対象となったため、サラリーマンの地位はこれまでにもまして不安定化している。なお、「サラリーマン」はもともと男性を前提にした用語であるため、これにかわって性中立的な「サラリーパーソン」が用いられるようになっている。

［伍賀一道］

『秋田弘著『現代サラリーマン研究』（1979・新日本出版社）』▽『千石保編著『日本のサラリーマン――国際比較でみる』（1982・日本放送出版協会）』▽『サラリーマン新党編『サラリーマン白書』（1985・中教出版）』▽『日本経済新聞社編・刊『ドキュメント　世界のサラリーマン』（1990）』

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