Hope and Society

Hope is a subjective representation that is wanted as something desirable in the future. Hope can be categorized according to factors such as achievability and sociality. In a Japanese nationwide questionnaire of approximately 2,000 people in their 20s to 50s, conducted in 2006, about 80% of respondents said they had some type of hope and 60% said that they believed their hope was attainable. The largest number of respondents described hopes regarding work, far outnumbering those who suggested hopes regarding family, health or leisure. Hope that is considered attainable is strongly defined by three social factors. This makes it possible to explain why a loss of hope spread between the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s. First, hope is influenced by the degree of choices available, which depends on affluence. Analyses have shown that people who are elderly and perceive their remaining time as limited, and those who have been marginalized in education and/or employment and/or who have low income and/or poor health, are more likely to report an absence of hope. Social changes, such as the falling birthrate, increase in low income population or unemployment, worsening health conditions and stagnating school advancement rates, have led to a rise in the percentage of people who lack hope. Secondly, hope is influenced by interpersonal relations based on exchanges with others, such as family members and friends. Individuals who grew up in an environment where they experienced expectations and confidence from their family are more likely to report having hope. Individuals with an awareness of having many friends are more likely to have hope. Further, those who interact with friends outside of work colleagues and family members are more likely to have hope regarding their work. Thus, friends have a great deal to do with the generation of hope not only quantitatively but qualitatively as well. The spread of loneliness among the Japanese population as a whole, symbolized by unstable family relations, bullying, social reclusiveness, NEETs, and the solitary death of senior citizens, has accelerated the spread of a loss of hope. In addition to economic and sociologic factors, we must focus on the narrative structure of society, which is believed to be necessary for facing an uncertain future, as a 2 social facet of hope. Statistical analyses show that individuals who have experienced setbacks that forced them to modify their hopes, and who, with the background of having overcome such obstacles, do not hesitate to make apparently vain efforts, are more likely to have attainable hopes. If the society in story consists mainly of people who have had such experiences and or who have such characteristics, people are more likely to have hope. We also need to have foresight about the direction of society beyond simply acceleration and efficiency, while being expected to make strategic judgments to avoid failures and to use non-wasteful problem-solving thought. Social circumstances in which there is no shared new value in story to provide such foresight can also contribute to an expansion of the loss of hope.