Japanese Sociological Review
Online ISSN : 1884-2755
Print ISSN : 0021-5414
ISSN-L : 0021-5414
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Volume 62, Issue 1
Displaying 1-12 of 12 articles from this issue
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Presidential Address
Articles
  • Empirical Test of Breen and Goldthorpe's Relative Risk Aversion Hypothesis in the Japanese Society
    Data Analysisof a Father's Occupational and Educational Expectations for His Child
    Sho FUJIHARA
    2011 Volume 62 Issue 1 Pages 18-35
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2013
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.62.18
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This article outlines Breen and Goldthorp's theory of educational attainment and relative risk aversion hypothesis, and then, tests how well relative risk aversion explains the class differences in educational attainment in Japan.
    According to the relative risk aversion hypothesis, young people and their parents want them to acquire a level of education that will allow them to avoid downward social mobility, and thus, the members of different classes pursue different levels of education. As a result of these processes, class differences in educational attainment persist. The author analyzed the Japanese panel data collected in 1979 and 2006 to test this hypothesis, and found that (1)a father's occupation affected his expectation of his child's occupational attainment, (2)his expectation of his child's occupational attainment affected his expectation of his child's educational attainment, and (3)his expectation of his child's educational attainment had an effect on the actual educational attainment of his child. However, these processes are rather independent of the processes by which a father's occupation affected his expectation of occupational and educational attainment for his child.
    These results suggest that the effects of occupational expectation on educational expectation and of educational expectation on educational attainment are not intermeditative but additive in the Japanese society. As a result, Breen and Goldthorpe's claim that relative risk aversion is a central factor to explain the effect of class on educational attainment was not supported.
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  • Culture of Society
    The Concept of Culture in the Age of the World Society
    Mitsuhiro TADA
    2011 Volume 62 Issue 1 Pages 36-50
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2013
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.62.36
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This paper aims to formulate the relation between culture and society from the viewpoint of Niklas Luhmann's theory of self-referential social systems. Traditional sociological theories, for example, those proposed by Talcott Parsons and Alfred Schutz, considered the social to be realized on the basis of a common culture among people. According to this idea, the society must be defined as a "society of culture" because it is a product of culture. On the contrary, the theory of self-referential social systems does not presuppose such a common basis for the social. Culture is not an eternal entity that cybernetically controls the social system from the outside. A social system emerges on the basis of mutual intransparency, that is, double contingency among people, and subsequently begins to control itself by remembering and forgetting the memory of its own operations. This memory is called culture and results from self-referential system operations. Therefore, as a product of the social system, culture can be described as the "culture of the social system." This formulation is also applicable to the destatized world society, which is not represented as a geographical unit. The world culture, or the culture of society, means nothing other than contingency. As the eigenvalue of the world society system, contingency results from the system operations and gives the orientation of further system differentiation to the world society. Consequently, by placing the social prior to the cultural, a theoretical framework can be established for describing and analyzing the current world situation, where cultures are differentiating with many associated issues.
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  • Reading Practices of Students between the World Wars
    A Solidarity Transcending the Social Position Held by the Tokyo Teidai Shinjin-Kai
    Mio GOTOH
    2011 Volume 62 Issue 1 Pages 51-68
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2013
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.62.51
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This paper examines the reading practices of the first radicals of the Tokyo Imperial University (1919-1929, Tokyo Teidai Shingin-Kai). By particularly focusing on the idea "From Science to Imagination" that they assimilated through their activities, this paper will explore how these students came to adopt this idea, which is different from the past viewpoints. In doing so, this paper reconsiders the students' social movement between the world wars.
    Shinjin-Kai was one of the biggest student groups at that time. Many of their practices and social activities influenced the then regime, and their reading practices formed the basis for their actions.
    For Shinjin-Kai, the reading practices did not merely imply reading but also included the characteristic act of transcending back and forth between the text and the real world. First, the students gained the knowledge by reading the text, and then understood the actual circumstances by communicating with the employees. Following this, they interpreted the then present situation by trying to match the knowledge of the text and the actual situation. Later, they intended to improve the situation by returning to the text again.
    Through such activities, they aimed to create a reading community not based on any social attribute, but on the similarity of interest. They interpreted the present situation scientifically using the text, and then developed this interpretation by imagining their new community through the text. In this process, they experienced a reversal of the role of a sender and a receiver, and then, realized that they have to respond to the present state that they try to change through their activities. The reading practices of Shinjin-Kai involved being aware of one's internal passiveness.
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  • Participating in a Social Movement as "Conscience Adherents"
    Benefits and Problems of HIV-infected Hemophiliacs' Participating as Unconcerned Individuals
    Masatake HONGO
    2011 Volume 62 Issue 1 Pages 69-84
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2013
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.62.69
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    In this paper, I examine the process by which the people living with HIV/AIDS (PWHs) got involved in collective activities. In particular, I will focus on hemophiliac PWHs who joined in "case supporting organizations." In Japan, about 1,400 hemophiliacs contracted HIV due to a tainted blood product (chemical poisoning). When they filed suits against the Japanese government and pharmaceutical companies from 1989 to 1996, the stereotypes toward HIV/AIDS were blatantly exaggerated and quite prevalent. How did hemophiliac PWHs get involved in these cases and support organizations? How did they avoid "bashing" and discrimination?
    Hemophiliac PWHs behaved like "conscience adherents" without coming out about their HIV infection. They secured their safe participation within such support groups as this enabled them to avoid an environment of seated prejudice. The programs in the support groups sometimes urged the other participants to be aware of PWHs who are invisible in their ordinary life. This awareness makes it more difficult to resolve the problem of elimination/exclusion of PWHs. This trial generates an opportunity of cooperation among people with/without HIV. It can be said that all members are concerned with HIV/AIDS as conscience adherents. Thus, this trial enables hemophiliac PWHs to participate in case support programs and communicate with others, with ease.
    This paper asserts that the notion of "conscience adherents" applies not only to pre-infectors but also to PWHs. These findings can contribute to the sociology of social movements and collective action, and also to our understanding of living a life with HIV/AIDS.
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  • Discipline of the Eye and Control of Sensation
    Status of "Sensation" in the Late Nineteenth-Century Japanese Instructional Theory
    Ryo OKUBO
    2011 Volume 62 Issue 1 Pages 85-102
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2013
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.62.85
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This article examines the status of "sensation" in the late nineteenth-century Japanese instructional theory. Through a historical comparison of the two types of instructional theories in pedagogy, this article explains how the changes in the status of "sensation," derived from experimental psychology, reorganized the relationship between the two basic concepts of mind and body and led to the logic of control through "sensation".
    In the 1880s, "object lessons" theorized "perception" as a medium between the mind and the knowledge acquired from external aspects. This instructional theory proposed that with regard to perception, the eyes are particularly important for the acquisition of precise knowledge. Therefore, it is essential to discipline the eyes, which mediate the mind and knowledge, and to acquire the ability of attention in order to gain precise knowledge.
    On the other hand, in the 1890s, it was argued in "psychological instructions" that "sensation" is aroused by the stimulation of the sensory organs. Further, this uncertain "sensation" caused by accidental stimulation forms one.s ideas. Moreover, this theory postulates that the mind is a fluid wherein multifarious ideas created by sensations continually conflict. Accordingly, the incorporation of psychological knowledge in pedagogy in the late nineteenth century resulted in the understanding that (1) the subject becomes a passive existence affected by accidental "sensation" and (2) the subject is defined as an existence that constructs his/her own ideas by active "attention." Further, on the other hand, (3) the psychological instructions determine in advance the set of ideas that the students should aim to gain, and the attention of the subject is thus invalidated. Consequently, (4) this theory can become the logic of control through "sensation." Thus, with the change in the status of "sensation," the aim of using projection devices in the 1890s was to shift focus from the training of perception to the controlling and measuring of sensation.
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  • Naming / Constructing "Ourselves"
    Analyzing a Deictic Word Used by Gay/Bisexual Men in Contemporary Japan
    Noritaka MORIYAMA
    2011 Volume 62 Issue 1 Pages 103-122
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2013
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.62.103
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    One of the important points in the discussions on minority groups pertains to the category words associated with that particular group. However, the significance of category words for the members of a minority group itself has been overlooked. The aim of this paper is to consider this point by analyzing one category word that is used by gay/bisexual men in contemporary Japan. In the context of gay/bisexual men's group, this point is associated with how they can address themselves and construct "We" without hurting someone by the category words they use.
    The word kocchi (here/this side) is frequently used by gay/bisexual men in Japan and can be considered to be an answer to the above question. This word implies peer consciousness among them, and by using it, gay/bisexual men construct themselves as a peer group without foreclosing anyone. This function derives from the tautological characteristic of the word kocchi. Of course, in some cases, this word leads to dysfunctional consequences. However, kocchi, a vague and tautological expression, plays a very important role in constructing gay/bisexual men as "We".
    This analysis can throw fresh light on the discussions about category words, because this case shows that the significance of a category word can be its "unsubstantial" feature.
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