Anxiety, Escape, Transcendence: The Japanese in a stratified society through A Banquet for the Common People
焦虑、逃离、超越：从《平民之宴》看格差社会中的日本人

摘要

本文以林真理子小说《平民之宴》为研究对象，结合社会认同理论，剖析当代日本格差社会中不同阶层个体的身份认同困境与行为选择。聚焦三类人物：中产阶级主妇由美子竭力通过教育投资维系阶级地位；其子翔作为“低欲望一族”代表，主动放弃阶级攀升以追求个人自由；底层女性珠绪则在阶级歧视触发下，通过考取医学院实现阶级跨越。研究表明：日本学历主义与家庭核心化促使中产阶级将教育异化为阶级再生产工具；经济停滞催生的代际断裂导致青年形成“低欲望”生存哲学；底层个体通过模仿强势群体可突破阶级固化，但需付出巨大代价。三者共同印证社会认同差异深刻支配个体生存策略——捍卫、逃离、或超越，其本质是对阶级价值与资源分配权的争夺。珠绪的成功逆袭批判了血统决定论，为阶层流动提供文学想象，呼应了泰弗尔理论中“弱势群体通过模仿强势群体实现自尊维护”的路径。

Abstract

This study examines Hayashi Mariko’s novel A Banquet for the Common People through the lens of social identity theory, dissecting identity crises and behavioral choices among individuals from distinct social strata in contemporary Japan’s stratified society. Focusing on three archetypes: Yumiko, a middle-class housewife striving to maintain status through educational investment; Sho, her son representing the "low-desire youth", who renounces class mobility for personal freedom; Tamio, a marginalized woman who achieves class transcendence by entering medical school after experiencing class-based discrimination. The research reveals: Japan’s academic credentialism and nuclear-family centrism have instrumentalized education into a tool for class reproduction among the middle class; Generational fractures stemming from economic stagnation fuel the "low-desire" survival philosophy in youth; While disadvantaged individuals can disrupt class rigidity by emulating dominant groups, such transcendence demands severe sacrifices. Collectively, these cases demonstrate how divergent social identities dictate life strategies—defending, escaping, or transcending class—all ultimately contesting the distribution of symbolic capital and resources. Tamio’s counterattack critiques hereditary determinism, offering literary imagination for upward mobility and echoing Tajfel’s proposition that "marginalized groups preserve self-esteem by adopting dominant-group practices."