Japanese Sociological Review
Online ISSN : 1884-2755
Print ISSN : 0021-5414
ISSN-L : 0021-5414
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Volume 59, Issue 2
Displaying 1-17 of 17 articles from this issue
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Articles
  • Doyo Songs in Media Studies
    The multilayers and reconfiguration of orality in the magazine Akaitori
    Yoshiki SHUTO
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 262-280
    Published: September 30, 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: April 01, 2010
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.59.262
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This paper examines dōyō (children's songs), published in the magazine Akaitori in 1918, from the perspective of media studies. Examination of dōyō reveals the practice and the transformation of orality in modern Japan.
    In the initial issues of Akaitori, dōyō were presented primarily as poetry. The readers of the magazine read the lyrics aloud and created their own melodies, thereby practicing poetry as songs. Behind such a practice were the poetics of Hakushū Kitahara and others to recover the nursery rhymes sung and passed on in traditional Japan through dōyō.
    This plainly reveals the power of text to intervene in the conceptualization of oral culture in the modern age. Orality is neither independent nor separate from text. In the modern world, orality, as exemplified by musical scores, is bound by text. The boundary between text and orality is quite arbitrary, and it is segmented by the effects of various factors, including technological mediation, practice, and people's imagination. Printing technology is a particularly important element in the formation of oral culture in modern society.
    The media does not simply determine and standardize the culture of text or that of orality. Therefore, this paper reexamines the media as catalyst for the reconfiguration of the relationship between orality and text and the production of diverse cultures.
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  • Institutional Rigidity on the "Circle of Legitimation": A study on the policy for vibration problems caused by bullet trains in Japan
    Shinya DAIMON
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 281-298
    Published: September 30, 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: April 01, 2010
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.59.281
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    The purpose of this study is to examine "an institution that monitors and mitigates vibrations caused by bullet trains (IVB)." Since institutions related to environmental pollution control have been established in the 1970s, many environmental sociological studies have focused on the institution-building process promoted by antipollution movements, such as studies about pollutions caused by bullet trains (Funabashi at el. 1985; Funabashi et al. 1988). However, little attention has been paid toward the concrete operating processes of these institutions. Above all, problems related to the rigidity of these institutions remain unanswered. In this article, I focus on (1) the consequences of the rigidity of IVB, and (2) the rationale behind adopting such institutional rigidity.
    My research results are as follows. First, the fact that "information on the extent of vibration is physically mitigated (IPM) " has been considered by the operating entities of IVB, while "the extent to which information on suffering, such as sleep disturbance and health effects, is mitigated (ISM)" has been disregarded. As a result of such informational constraints, the operation of IVB has gained rigidity, and along rail lines, occurrences of sleep disturbance and health effects have been neglected and residents' advocacies have been dismissed. Second, the institutional rigidity and the related consequences are a direct result of the fixation on IPM. In other words, while IPM is merely a means of mitigation of suffering caused by vibration, in the operating processes, such information has been treated as an end in itself, and ISM has been considered to be of less importance. Furthermore, these situations have been structurally caused by the "Circle of Legitimation," that is, the structural relationship between experts and administrations is considered to be mutually legitimate.
    Consequently, in order to improve the institutional rigidity, it is necessary to adopt various types of ISM in the decision-making process prompting the participation of epidemiologists in the council for vibration problems and conducting regular environmental epidemiologic investigations.
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  • Social Area Analysis Reconsidered
    Structural comparison between the Tokyo and Keihanshin metropolitan areas by adopting the KS method cluster analysis
    Tatsuto ASAKAWA
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 299-315
    Published: September 30, 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: April 01, 2010
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.59.299
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Social area analysis has been developing as a method of factorial ecology. Factor analysis interprets factor structure using a few factors that possess big factor loading. Moreover, factor analysis ignores some factors with small factor loading. Therefore, it is pointed out that factor analysis may present a rough interpretation of the factor structure. In order to avoid this problem, the cluster analysis method is adopted. In statistical analysis software such as SPSS, hierarchical cluster analysis and K-means methods are generally adopted. Because neither method has the algorithms that extract the most suitable solution, analysts have to decide which solution is most suitable. Thus, it is said that using the cluster analysis method is very difficult.
    The KS method cluster analysis can avoid these problems. Using the KS method, a structural comparison was drawn between the Tokyo and Keihanshin metropolitan areas. Data sets of the population census, which was carried out in 2000, were used. Further, the data sets of establishment and enterprise census, which was carried out in 2001, were also utilized. Both data sets were obtained free of cost. The units of analyses were cities, wards, towns, and villages, which were within a radius of 70km from Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, and Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, and the total number of units was 471. With regard to the Tokyo metropolitan area, social areas that were similar to the ones found by priority studies were discovered. With regard to the Keihanshin metropolitan area, a multiple core structure was discovered. It is believed that the KS method cluster analysis has the possibility to become one of the standard methods for social area analysis.
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  • The Concept of Ulrich Beck's Individualization
    Individual and society in reflexive modernity
    Midori ITO
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 316-330
    Published: September 30, 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: April 01, 2010
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.59.316
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    Ulrich Beck is a sociologist who considers that the change in the social structure occurred in the latter half of the twentieth century, especially since the 1970's, toward a radicalization of modernity, which is called as "reflexive modernization". According to him, risk society, globalization, and individualization are the most important aspects of reflexive modernity.
    In this paper, the concept of Beck's individualization is examined to explore following points: the type of situation he attempted to explain via this concept, the significance of this concept in the history of sociology, and the function of this concept in practical sociology.
    The article begins by arguing that his concept of individualization can be divided into three sub-concepts: a pure sociological concept, contemporary diagnosis, and normative demand. Among these sub-concepts, his greatest concern lies in the second one. Individualization in this sense implies new opportunities and problems. The paper then compares this concept of individualization with the concept of individualization or individual in the theories presented by the first modern sociologists. This comparison shows that Beck's concept of individualization expresses a more reflexive self in the stage of society where differentiation in society is more advanced. Finally, the paper examines the critiques of the concept of individualization by sociologists in empirical studies conducted in Germany. It should be noted that this concept is able to perform the same function as "Idealtyp" in practical sociology.
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  • Communal Life Practices in a National Sanatorium for Hansen's Disease
    Masayo ARIZONO
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 331-348
    Published: September 30, 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: April 01, 2010
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.59.331
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    The purpose of this paper is to clarify the various aspects of communal life practices of patients in a national sanatorium for Hansen's disease in Japan. I consider an example of small groups that lived in a national sanatorium called Touhoku Shinsei-en in the 1960-70s in order to describe the characteristics of communal life practices of the patients under heavy segregation policies.
    The Japanese government's policy toward the patients of Hansen's disease was very cruel in the past. Almost all these patients were obliged to be segregated in national sanatoriums. However, the patients kept struggling for creating better living conditions. In order to make this sanatorium a better place, they took recourse in various activities, often adopting informal, sometimes even non-admitted methods.
    Besides clarifying the processes of the creation and development of such communal life practices, this paper also examines the effects and meanings of these practices for the participants. The case study in this paper sheds light on the fact that these patients kept experimenting with new communal life practices repeatedly not only for financial interests but also for the enrichment of their own lives. In concrete terms, their practices have the following connotations: (1) one refers to the securing of various autonomous living zones in the sanatorium by distributing "employment" roles among themselves; (2) another one refers to the creation of slight hope saying that their lives were worth living and to the sharing of these hopes with other patients; (3) the third one pertains to the extension of their living area by establishing contact between patients and non-patients. By understanding the significance of these practices through which the patients of Hansen's disease attempt to enrich their lives, we aim to explore some new aspects of their extremely difficult daily lives.
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  • What Does the Development/Conservation of Urban Spaces Involve in Local Community Politics?
    A monograph of spaces and politics on the Tomo port preservation problem
    Satoshi MORIHISA
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 349-368
    Published: September 30, 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: April 01, 2010
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.59.349
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    The purpose of this paper is to discuss the interrelationship between social strata and political representation of spaces. For this purpose, I analyzed a case of local conflict concerning divided opinion over the development of an urban space in a local community.
    I studied the case of the Tomo Port Preservation Problem in Tomo no Ura, Fukuyama City. Presently, there is a major conflict between the residents who approve the planned construction of a landfill and bridge on Tomo Port and the residents who do not approve of the plan. Focusing on the fact that both the groups comprise members occupying several different social strata, I analyzed the interrelationship between social strata, political position, area of residence, and spatial memory.
    The results showed the following: (1) The core of those who approved the construction comprised regional leader strata who maintained road projects in order to realize urban spaces as a way to indicate their political position and the social strata whose spatial core of regional cooperation was not Tomo Port; (2) The preservationist camp comprised the next generation of regional leaders who were aiming for a reevaluation of the spatial memory of Tomo Port, the strata of women and housewives who were attempting to protect the spatial foundation of social solidarity that a "port town" represents, and the old notables strata that intended to maintain its traditional political position supported by the port; (3) It is apparent that the residents in the area consider the port as a space that symbolizes their political position, and the point of conflict is the fluctuation in their political position brought about by the continuation or extinction of that space. Through spatial memory, urban spaces regulate/govern the practices and social world of the people living in the present.
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  • Empirical Assessment of "Japanese" Cognition Toward Various Nations
    Asianism, cold war, globalization
    Shunsuke TANABE
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 369-387
    Published: September 30, 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: April 01, 2010
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.59.369
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    The purpose of this paper is to clarify how Japanese people perceive various nations of the world. It focuses on the differences among Japanese generations in the cognitions of nations by analyzing survey data on the attitude toward 20 nations.
    I found that the Japanese tended to favor Western nations more than other nations. This result is consistent with the so-called high western and low eastern-type rank ordering of the Japanese preference of nations, which has been pointed out by many previous works. To examine the differences between generations in the cognitions of nations, the average liking score of 20 nations was compared among four age groups (20-34, 35-49, 50-64, 65+). It showed that people with age 50 or above hold less favorable attitude toward Russia compared to those with age under 49 years. This implies that there are generation gaps in the subjective liking of an individual country.
    To investigate the liking data in terms of not only one-dimensional order but also multidimensional relations, I used a multidimensional scaling technique (INDSCAL). I found that the respondents judged their liking of nations based on two dimensions: The first dimension was "Western nations (Japan included) vs. Non-western nations (excluding Japan)" which is very similar to the high western and low eastern-type rank ordering. The second order may be interpreted as the "exposure to negative images through the mass media." Older respondents (over 65 years old) based their judgment heavily on the first dimension, while people under 64 years used the second dimension for their judgment. This result indicates a possibility of changes in Japanese subjective liking of various nations that was once believed to be stable in previous research.
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