Who Are “Common People”?

Mirai Expo seeks to present a futuristic view of Japan 10 to 15 years ahead under various themes. This year’s theme is “The Future of Commonness.” We propose a new concept of “common people” specific to sei-katsu-sha in a digital society, where individuals freely connect with each other to try and form groups of “common people.”

Exactly who are “common people”?

Sei-katsu-sha use the term “common people” to express different concepts. In sociology, however, the term has two definitions:
A group of affiliation: “common people” as a group to which one belongs; or
A group of reference: “common people” as a group that serves as a benchmark in making a decision.
This research focuses on “common people” as a reference group, serving as “others” when sei-katsu-sha say they want to be the same as “others” or different from “others,” and as a premise of corporate marketing and communication.

End of preoccupation with “commonness”

The diversification of households, life stages and consumed media has led to a collapse of standards, as it is hard even for “common people” to have something in common. We are now witnessing the emergence of a new value of: “What I am is what I am. What you are is what you are.”

As a result, our analysis found that consumption to gain a lead over “common people” or to symbolically represent one’s personality, which was behavior prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s, is finally coming to an end (“the end of differentiation”).

Signs of a new “commonness”

According to our analysis of hashtags (#) on social networks, the Japanese are more concerned about what “common people” are doing than people in other countries, creating their own “commonness” through hashtags depending on where they stand in their life, such as planning their wedding and preparing for the arrival of a baby.

Behind these signs lies a structural change in the concept of “commonness” marked by:
Quantification, i.e. the scale and active mass of “common people” can now be measured accurately;
Bidirectionality, i.e. one can refer to, and be referred to by “common people”; and
Identifiability, i.e. each one of the “common people” can now be identified.
Although some say that “common people” are too disparate to be recognized as a group nowadays, the truth is that “common people” are more identifiable than ever, making it far easier to answer what used to be a vague question about exactly who “common people” are.
We decided to call this phenomenon “higher resolution of commonness.”

Six types of “commonness” in the future

Environmental changes in the future that will affect the concept of “commonness” going forward may be characterized by three technological innovations: the 5G-powered revolution in telecommunications, the resulting further advancement of IoT, and artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the data thus collected. All this will culminate in the Internet of Humans (IoH), capable of visualizing, analyzing and sharing in real time people’s behaviors and attitudes that have not been elucidated thus far.

Such environmental changes will give birth to six types of “commonness” and new modes of reference:

“Commonness” in Japan going forward

One theory suggests that people have traditionally moved toward differentiation as the population grew, and toward homogenization as the population declined. Although homogenization has negative aspects including heightened peer pressure, “commonness” is essential in providing a common ground for conversation.

A specific theme or challenge underlies each of the new types of “commonness” that emerged in the process of our research. Various types of “commonness” will continue to emerge in Japan, a country supposed to be the first to face new and difficult challenges. Japan will also host an increasing number of foreign nationals going forward. We are standing on the brink of a new era when diverse individuals are invited to create “commonness” to find solutions to diverse challenges.