Changes of Rural Society in 1970's and theSignificance of Village Community

Abstract

In preparing for the symposium on“The Analysis of Japanese Society Today” scheduled in 1982, Japan Sociological Society settled the special session for “Local Community in Japan-1970's” in her 53 rd assembly. This article is based on my presentation in this special session. Considering these situation, it would be required to concern on such items in my presentation, that (1) overview on the changes of rural society in 1970's, (2) analysis on the characteristics of agricultural or rural policies in the decade, (3) critics on the rural sociological studies concerning on these changes and characteristics. Though in this paper it was aimed to dealt only with the second and the third items.
As one of the recent trends the emphasis on the importance of the village community is discovered in some rural policies in 1970's. Related with these trends, also the discussion against the studies of village community in rural sociology in 1950's and 60's are expanding. Through the considerations on these trends, stress is layed on the necessity of tightly related analysis of following traits in the present stage of highly developed capitalism : the intricated meanings of rural policy, the refracted forms of class structure of peasantry, and the specific traits in disorganisation of village community.