噂研究から噂を通じた研究へ : A.Schutz の生活世界論の検討を通じて

抄録

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in a phenomenon called'urban legends.'Both rumors and urban legends are orally transmitted from person to person, but the latter stand in great contrast to the former, which has been studied thoroughly. The research on urban legends, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired. In this paper, I will consider rumors as a form of communication handed down from generation to generation. First, I will recapitulate the sociological studies of rumors, and stipulate that the interpretation of the topic (rumor) always has leaned towards'rumor as information'and'rumor as public opinion'. The reason for this can be found in the view of communication itself as a transmission process. Second, I will stress the need to understand rumors from the viewpoint of interactionism in communication. This is to say, instead of splitting the comprehension of rumors up into an instrumental and an intentional frame, it is better to grasp the meaning of rumors as something common to a great number of people. I will rely on Alfred Schutz's Life-World theory, because this theory explains the relation between the individual and society. Another reason is that it explains the problem of the possibility of individuals maintaining different Life-Worlds. More specifically this theory seems to answer the questions'why certain individuals have rumors in common'and'why a large number of people know the same rumors'. In conclusion, whether people have rumors in common or not, depends on the system of relevance created in each and every situation of communication. Thirdly, to understand rumors, one needs to get a grip on the everyday life-world (world of daily life), the source of relevances, of the people who have rumors in common. The impossibility of grasping the everyday life-world seems to be inherent to its being'taken-for-granted'. On the contrary, I note that the affinity that exists between rumors and the intersubjective everyday life-world that they rely upon, makes it possible not just to'analyze rumors', but to get on insight into this'taken-for-granted'everyday life-world'via rumors'. I conclude by proposing for the study of rumors a detailed methodology, very different from the one used hitherto.