山間地域にみる社会関係のダイナミズム

階層流動下で躍進する人物を手がかりとして

抄録

　In recent years, the rethinking of social change in the mountainous areas of Japan has often been the subject of debate. But social relations in mountain villages require further discussion. In particular, very few attempts have been made to analyze “the dynamism of social relations,” changes in social stratification and the reformation of human relationships. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the dynamics of social relations through the agency of the individual by presenting a historical analysis of a village in Hyogo Prefecture.　Since the beginning of the Meiji period, the village studied has undergone major changes in terms of its social stratification. Economically deprived households have longed for the emergence of successful people in the village and have depended on them in various ways. Families that experienced downward mobility have either left the village or remained behind and supported the activities of these successful individuals. These successful, enterprising men developed exterior networks, brokered new jobs and introduced new forms of culture to the village. Macroscopically, this process readied these mountainous areas for development by the government, the market economy and mass media. However, inhabitants saw this macroscopic change as a process in which a man of enterprise had put a new face on adverse circumstances.　This historical study is significant as follows: first, it will be helpful to an understanding of human relations in contemporary mountainous areas. Secondly, no previous study has attempted to describe a mountain village in light of the dynamism of social relations through the agency of the individual. Further research on this dynamic would clarify the latent possibilities of social revival in a situation that is critical, and the social potency of the individual in mountainous areas.