Japanese Sociological Review
Online ISSN : 1884-2755
Print ISSN : 0021-5414
ISSN-L : 0021-5414
Volume 52, Issue 1
Displaying 1-18 of 18 articles from this issue
  • Life Stage as Social Context
    Saeko KIKUZAWA
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 2-15
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Most studies of the relationship between multiple roles and distress are centered on young and middle age adults. However, whether or not the findings of such studies also hold true for people who are in their late adulthood requires further examination. Using data from the 1998 Japanese National Family Research, this paper studies how the relation between multiple roles and distress varies between young or middle age adults and people in late adulthood.
    According to results from regression analyses, compared to young adults and the middle-aged, the association between multiple roles and distress is much weaker for Japanese men who are in their late adulthood. In terms of individual roles, the significant effect of the wage-earner role observed in early to middle adulthood is reduced in late adulthood. Similarly, wage-earning, spousal and parental roles affect young or middle-aged men more significantly than other role combinations, but such disparities are hardly observed in late adulthood. On the other hand, for Japanese women, the association between multiple roles and distress is stronger in their late adulthood. In terms of individual roles, the effect of the spousal role varies according to a woman's life stage. In contrast to her younger counterparts, a Japanese woman in her late adulthood enjoys certain benefits by virtue of her role as a spouse. As a result, the sex difference in the effect of multiple roles and distress observed in early to middle adulthood diminishes in late adulthood.
    Overall, the results show a strong impact of life stage on the association between multiple roles and distress.
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  • A Re-examination of Asahi Shimbun, 1945-1999
    Tomochika OKAMOTO, Etsuko SASANO
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 16-32
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper examines changes in the representations of “salaried men” in postwar Japanese newspapers. Some Japanese scholars recently started using the term “1955 Family System” to describe the dominant family form in postwar Japan, which consists of a salaried worker husband, a housewife, and their children. Making use of the expression, this paper adopts the concept “salaried men under the 1955 System.” The significance of this paper is twofold : to examine the representations of “salaried men” in Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese national newspaper, and to analyze the rise and fall of the “1955 Family System” during the latter half of the 20th century.
    This paper takes as its object of study 1034 articles, the titles of which contain the term “salaried men, ” published between 1945 and 1999 in the Asahi Shimbun. First, a quantitative analysis is conducted, and the articles are grouped into eight categories based on the nature of the contents. Where the expression “salaried men under the 1955 System” is treated as self-evident, the fluctuation in the number of such articles in each category is noted. The postwar era is then divided into five periods according to such fluctuations.
    Next, we examine the characteristics of the “salaried men” in each period by conducting a content analysis of the articles. It is found that the trend of taking the term “salaried men under the 1955 System” for granted appeared for the first time at the beginning of the postwar Japanese economic boom. “Salaried men” were always expected to be good taxpayers in the late 1960s. However, during the recession following the Oil Crisis in 1973, they were depicted to often head straight home after work to their families. The sexual division of labor at home was also a characteristic constantly highlighted in these depictions. In the latter half of the “Bubble Economy” period, whether the term was as self-evident as it seemed became a subject for debate. From such development arose a new awareness that, for “salaried men, ” other social space than the company existed in the 1990s.
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  • Shigeki MATSUDA
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 33-49
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: April 23, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purpose of this analysis is to examine the effects of childcare network structure on the psychological well-being of mothers measured against “satisfaction of everyday life” and “child-rearing anxiety”. Childcare network in this analysis refers to a network that involves the father, kin, and non-kin. Using a representative sample of women with children of pre-school age in Japan, this study explores how the structure of childcare network affects the psychological well-being of mothers by using multiple linear-regression models. Findings indicate that the level of the mother' s well-being is highest when (i) the father' s participation in childcare is highly active, (ii) the childcare network outside the household is large, and (iii) the childcare network includes a good mixture of both kin and non-kin. As regards the childcare network involving extra-household actors, the composition and density of the network exhibit the characteristic of a U-shape curve in relation to the level of well-being : well-being is lowest in level when kin proportion and network density are either too low or too high. In other words, the level of well-being is high when kin proportion and network density are around mid level. In conclusion, this paper finds that active participation by fathers in childcare, together with a large childcare network structure that is mixed in composition and of mid-level density, are conditions most favorable in achieving a high level of psychological well-being in child-rearing mothers.
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  • Towards a New Phase in Human Development
    Yasutsugu OGURA
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 50-68
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: April 23, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Beginning with a historical recognition of aging society, this paper attempts to construct a framework which links the issue of human aging with social reform.
    Firstly, this paper regards the historical context of aging society as a phase of “reflexive late modernity.” Secondly, based on this recognition, this paper critically examines social gerontological studies in Japan, and discusses the efficacy of the concept of human development. I will then introduce the concept of “radical aging.”
    The following sections of this paper applies the term “radical aging” to a specific issue. In particular, the “turning point in midlife” in contemporary Japan is considered to be an intensive phenomenon of “radical aging.” As a result, “reflexive socialization” is introduced as a key concept of “radical aging.” In addition, this paper examines how this concept contributes to the issue of reforming the socio-cultural infrastructure.
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  • Internal Observation Model and Deconstruction
    Hiroyasu HANANO
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 69-85
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: April 23, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Diagnosing mental disorders involve several processes. However, it is common practice to judge if one is suffering from mental disorder by first looking for signs and symptoms in a person's social behavior. We call the symptoms “social symptoms” of mental disorder. Psychiatry tends to trace social symptoms back to the etiological factors of a mental disorder, but there is an inevitable paradox in this method. Similarly, while narrative therapy and social constructionism tend to claim that social symptoms are themselves the cause of mental disorders, that too leads inevitably to a second paradox. Realism, on which these methods are based, is the cause of such paradoxes.
    This paper explores the “Internal Observation Theory” -a theory that is independent of realism proposed by the biologist Yukio-Pegio Gunji in the study of mental disorders. The “Internal Observation Model”, or “Ontological Observation Model”, claims that the observer and the subject are inseparable since the subject is not free of influence from the observer. In this model, a turning point exists where universal observations (universal language games) are inferred from specific observations (specific language games). According to the theory, social symptoms can be taken as signs of mental disorder only within the workings of specific language games. In contrast, “realist theories” confuse specific language games with universal language games while trying to explain the cause of the symptoms. This paper aims to present a “Pegiotic deconstruction” of such a mistake and to propose internal observation as a means to avoid similar mistakes in the study of mental disorders.
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  • Kouhei DAIKOUJI
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 86-101
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: April 23, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This article represents an attempt to define the proper position of Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic theory in mind theory. To this end, Lacan's theory of discourse is reviewed and examined in relation to Niklas Luhmann's theory of autopoietic systems.
    Lacan assumes the psyche of human beings operates in a completely different way from the mind of animals. However we emphasize that there may be common aspects between human and other animals. So I adopt an alternative approach presuming the duality of human beings, that is, their “subject-of-speech” and “being-as-animal” qualities. At the same time, I demonstrate some theoretical difficulties posed by that duality.
    Two characteristics, extracted from Lacan's writings, are shown to have something in common with Luhmann's theory. The first one is the concept of “structure”. It is oriented to the relationship between system and its environment. The second is the mechanism of “detautologization” through which the system utilizes disturbances of its environment. As a result, I present the possibility that the relation between “subject-of-speech” and “being-as-animal” qualities can be theorized properly as structural coupling.
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  • Methodological Considerations
    Koji MARUTA
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 102-117
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: April 23, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new aspect-interview as communication-to the study of life history and interview research. Using data obtained in my fieldwork, I explore the communication process between the interviewer and his informant during an interview.
    First, through communication with an interviewer, informants experience catharsis. The informant unifies self-image through retrospection and talking about his/her emotions and thoughts. Secondly, informants are able to gain new knowledge and perspectives about themselves through the communication process with interviewers.
    In this paper, three issues in the communication process of interviews are analyzed, namely, the expression of catharsis, representation of meaning and interpretation of data.
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  • Reading Television (1974)
    Yayoi YOSHIZAWA
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 118-132
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Raymond Williams, known for his pioneering work in cultural studies, applied the method of literary critique to studying popular culture. This article focuses on some important views and methods from his studies on mass media, which have not been appropriately recognized in the sociology of media culture. In Television : Technology and Cultural Form (1974), Williams traces the development of various technologies that are related to television, and studies how characteristics of cultural forms such as theater, novel, and newspapers are incorporated in television production. Williams observes that flow, a important characteristic of television broadcasting, exists as well in the everyday lives of television audience and that it carries culturally specific meanings and values. By analyzing the various forms of television, Williams traces the interactions between technology, culture and society. His historical perspective and analyses of television forms provide some original views and method to hitherto media studies.
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  • Hideki ENDO
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 133-146
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Many of us are travelling more than ever before. Tourism is becoming an increasingly prominent feature of contemporary life, and is deeply related to many aspects of modern society. In particular, most tourist spots are constructed after their image, which are constantly reproduced through media such as brochures, magazines, television, and movies. This paper studies the relationship between tourism and image in Nara, one of the most famous Japanese tourist spots. By doing so, I will show that tourism cannot be analyzed without considering the power of image, and that the media play an essential role in reproducing the image of tourist spots. This is a very important theme in the sociology of tourism, which Daniel J. Boorstin's works are well known for. According to Boorstin, tourists do no more than see media-created images. He argues that tourists' experiences are only the “pseudo-events” that media create, and therefore these experiences are contrived and superficial in nature. Tourists, however, do not simply accept media-created images passively. Going beyond the scope of Boorstin's analysis, I will also argue that tourists use “bricolage”, and subjectively “read” tourist spots as textiles made from their image. This “reading” is considered equivalent to the “negotiated reading” that Stuart Hall discusses in his cultural studies. In conclusion, I will suggest that tourists transform the structure of the media-created images, despite being strongly influenced by the media that reproduces the image of tourist spots. Thus, they are able to escape from the web of media power that makes the image look natural. In this way, this paper is an attempt to demonstrate the “bricolage” practices of tourists and provide new insight into theories on the relationship between tourism and image.
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  • Event Analysis of Social Movements in Miyagi Prefecture, 1986-1997
    Hidehiro YAMAMOTO, Tsutomu WATANABE
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 147-162
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Although the theory of political opportunity structure has been one of the most influential theories in social movement research, it has some conceptual defects. In this article, we propose a modification of the theory and examine its validity by hypothesis testing using empirical data on social movements in Miyagi prefecture from 1986 to 1997.
    Our analysis of the data produces the following findings. First, the effects of political opportunity structure on social movement vary depending on the nature of the issue. Thus we have to study carefully how political opportunity structure affects social movements differently in each type of issue. Previous studies of political opportunity structure have failed to recognize the implication of such differences. Second, certain types of social movement are not affected by the political opportunity structure in terms of “opportunities” involved. Instead, such social movements are the result of social issues brought about by policies implemented by the polity. Thus a closer scrutiny of the interaction between the polity and the social movement organization is necessary.
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  • [in Japanese]
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 163-164
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • [in Japanese]
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 165-166
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Download PDF (205K)
  • [in Japanese]
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 166-168
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Download PDF (294K)
  • [in Japanese]
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 168-169
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Download PDF (216K)
  • [in Japanese]
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 170-171
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Download PDF (248K)
  • [in Japanese]
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 171-173
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Download PDF (376K)
  • [in Japanese]
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 173-175
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Download PDF (297K)
  • [in Japanese]
    2001 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 175-176
    Published: June 30, 2001
    Released on J-STAGE: October 19, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Download PDF (194K)
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