メディア文化研究の歩みと課題

抄録

The history of the research of mass-mediated culture in the Japan Association for Media, Journalism and Communication Studies is classified in five stages. In the first stage (1952-1969), studies of mass-mediated culture emerged as the study of television culture and mass culture. In this period, the influence of broadcasting on human culture was highly controversial. In the second period (1970s-1980s), the study remained focused on television culture. Interdisciplinary projects involving anthropology, sociology, and folklore studies characterized the research of these years. During the third period (1990s), under the influence of British cultural studies, Japanese media studies began to include area studies, gender studies, and feminist theory. Transnational cultural exchanges and global communication also became important issues. In the beginning of 21st century, a fourth period saw studies of popular culture and subculture, rather than mass-culture, become the central focus of research, including manga, popular music, and mobile phone communications. The concept of mass-communication was no longer effective with the emergence of personal communication through the internet; no longer a passive audience of big media industry, individuals became active cultural creators. Thus, in the fifth stage of research (2010s), studies of fan culture as an active recipient and transnational fan communities as “girls culture” became a focus of research. At the same time, the mediated environment of museums and movie theaters also became a research topic. Through the seventy-year history of the association, studies of mass-mediated culture have primarily targeted the culture of ordinary citizens rather than the high culture of elites. Studies of culture have been and will remain an important genre in and outside of our academic society, for cultural activities are core to human identity.