Beyond 'Productive Aging': An Argument for 'Happy Aging'.

This paper critically considers the concept of 'productive aging,' maintaining that although the term emerged as an effort to aid older people, it may be normative and potentially coercive. The paper illustrates this premise through an examination of Japan, through analysis of interviews conducted over decades, and, more fully, an analysis of advice books for Japanese seniors over the past twenty years. These advice books show how seniors in Japan are now increasingly urged to find contentment in old age as they themselves see fit, without concern over 'contributing to society.

African trading brokers in China: The internet, Covid-19 and the transformation of low-end globalization.

African trading brokers in China buy knock-off or copy goods and move them through customs via bribery to African ports; this trade, although illegal, brings desired global products to Africa. This paper, based on interviews with African trading brokers, examines how the internet and Covid-19 have affected their trade. African customers can now find out the accurate prices of goods; computerized customs regimes make bribery difficult; and Covid-19 has raised shipping costs.