Abstract
The present study examined cultural practices governing succession processes, obtaining data from the students in a university seminar organized according to a pair system, in order to obtain information relevant to the theory of legitimate peripheral participation (LPP). Based on the notion in that theory of continuity-displacement contradiction, the present research explored how norms related to communities of practice were reproduced, and how conflicts between generations were resolved. University students (35 juniors and seniors) who were in the seminar on this topic participated in semi-structured interviews. Qualitative analysis of the narrative data revealed 6 categories of succession patterns : legitimate succession, developmental succession, non-intentional succession, non-succession, succession-improvement, and succession-failure. The data also revealed 1 pattern, penetration of cultural values, by which norms were reproduced. Additionally, the results of the present study illustrated how the categories of succession patterns developed by the juniors and seniors reflected differences in norms. Finally, the seminar used a pair system in order to explore the penetration of cultural values underpinning the revolutionary processes governing succession, which were mediated by the production and dissolution of conflicts between the juniors and the seniors. The possible use of legitimate peripheral participation as a theory of succession was discussed.
