Social-Institutional Structures That Matter: A Quantitative Monograph of Sexual/Gender Minority Status and Earnings in Japan

Abstract

While most previous studies examining the effects of sexual orientation on earnings rely on lesbians, gay men, and their heterosexual counterparts in Western societies, this quantitative monograph argues that focusing on social-institutional structures of a society and understanding specific stratification processes based on various sexual/gender minority statuses are important for the theory of stratification by sexual orientation and transgender status. Using the "niji VOICE 2018" survey, this study examines the association between sexual/gender minority status and earnings in Japan. The analysis shows that there is a negative association between being a sexual/gender minority and earnings among both designated females at birth and designated males at birth. The results suggesting the lesbian premium found in Western economies are not observed in Japan. The findings also indicate that the processes through which stratification based on sexual orientation and transgender status may operate depend on various categories of