Japanese Sociological Review
Online ISSN : 1884-2755
Print ISSN : 0021-5414
ISSN-L : 0021-5414
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Volume 63, Issue 3
Displaying 1-14 of 14 articles from this issue
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Articles
  • The Social Systems Theoretical Consideration of Inclusion and Exclusion
    Minoru GOTO
    2012 Volume 63 Issue 3 Pages 324-340
    Published: December 31, 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: February 10, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.324
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Recently social exclusion has become a key societal concept, and thus developing strategies for social inclusion have become the objective of many studies, especially with regard to social policy issues.
    Sociologists have attempted to demonstrate and examine the reality of social exclusion as it relates to diverse poverty. Few studies, however, consider social inclusion and exclusion as a pair contrastive concept.
    Our concern is to examine the formation of social exclusion and inclusion in modern society from a social systems theory viewpoint. For this purpose, we consider Parson's concept of inclusion and Luhmann's scheme of inclusion/exclusion. Luhmann, for example, points out that the principle of inclusion is entrusted to the regulation of functional systems. Modern society pursues the functional performance of collectivity by personal contributions based on organizational selection of members and decision-making. We further consider the operational aspect of the inclusion principle, which involves the organizational activity of exclusion. Accordingly, Luhmann views exclusion as a result of a functional differentiated society and stresses the social divide; however, he insufficiently argues the adjustment of social exclusion.
    Then, we argue the regulation of functional systems and possibilities of non-exclusion through the anti-exclusive communication of equality/inequality and by alternations of programs related to functional systems. Although the mechanism of inclusion comprises individual and social levels, the possibility of social inclusion is still attempted semantically. We assume that this is an adjustable aspect of the inclusion principle.
    Finally, we conclude that sustainability of modern society is reinforced when the normalizations of social exclusion bring continuing existence, and semantics of social inclusion restore the social divide. Although the mechanism of social systems is different from our reality of everyday life, we realize the formation of social exclusion and inclusion through the communication of negative operational results.
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  • “The Body” and “Gender” of Gender Trouble
    Masafumi SUNAGA
    2012 Volume 63 Issue 3 Pages 341-358
    Published: December 31, 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: February 10, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.341
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This paper revisits Butler's argument on body discussed in Gender Trouble by first highlighting three important dimensions of her approach to body: the redefinition of “gender,” the paradigmatic shift from “The Body” as one entity to individual “Bodies,” and her argument concerning the vague boundary between “Inner” and “Outer.”
    Next, reviewing contemporary views on body in feminism/gender theories, this paper describes Butler's critical arguments. For example, Butler first criticized Beauvoir's approach through the mind and body dichotomy and challenged Irigaray's biological accounts of binary sex. According to Butler, this dualistic approach must be reexamined in discussions of gender practice.
    This paper concludes with Butler's contribution: her redefinition of gender by pointing out the level of the gender phenomenon seen as ordinary sexuality produced and normalized on a heterosexual basis. Moreover, this paper discusses the importance of examining and describing the “bodies” and “actions” constructed in everyday life in order to demonstrate gender practice, which is necessary for the advancement of the sociology of gender.
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  • A Reconsidering of Occupational Aspiration
    Quantitative Analysis on the Data of Occupational Similarity Judgment and Preference
    Takuya HAYASHI
    2012 Volume 63 Issue 3 Pages 359-375
    Published: December 31, 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: February 10, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.359
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    Occupational aspiration is considered an intermediary social-psychological factor in occupational attainment process. In recent empirical studies in Japan, aspiration is thought to be isolated from the process; however, these studies require further investigation, for the assumption in the measurement of the aspiration scale is the primacy and unidimensionality of “status,” which has been criticized from several viewpoints. This paper reconsiders aspiration by measuring occupational orientation through an approach that focuses on similarities among occupations rather than unidimensional status. Data from a survey conducted in 2008 are used. The sample consists of male employees 25-39 years old in 23 wards of Tokyo. Analyses are carried out for the cognitive structure of occupations based on their similarities, the direction of preference in the structure, and the linkage in the attainment process. Three dimensions of cognitive features derived are interpreted as “status with stability,” “organization/skill,” and “discretion.” The orientations toward them are measured using individual data of occupational preferences. Each orientation has a statistically significant association with respondents' attributes, including their own occupation. The implications for previous and future studies are also discussed.
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  • The Imagined “Entrepreneur”
    An Analysis of Japanese Entrepreneurship Policy Since the Late 1990s
    Noritoshi FURUICHI
    2012 Volume 63 Issue 3 Pages 376-390
    Published: December 31, 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: February 10, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.376
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    Through a review of the discourses and images presented by the Japanese government and business community, this paper explores how the concepts of “small business” and “entrepreneur” have been defined in Japanese society since the late 1990s.
    This paper uncovers the irony in the construction of entrepreneurship in the era of post-Japanese-style management following the collapse of the Bubble Economy, during which political and business establishments encouraged the entrepreneur to save the Japanese economy. Despite related-policy blueprints' emphasis on free will and self-responsibility, calling for entrepreneurs to assume a self-sustaining attitude, these statements are always placed in the context of national interest (e.g., “revival of the Japanese economy” or “revitalizing the national economy”). In policy blueprints, an entrepreneur is never constructed as someone who pursues his/her own private profit or who sets his/her own goals. Instead, an entrepreneur is framed as someone who should “contribute to the Japanese economy” and “prime the Japanese economy.” As a sub-plot, small businesses have been supported, especially after youth unemployment surfaced as a social problem, as an effective way to create new jobs.
    Historically, supporting small- and medium-sized companies has been an element of social policy in Japan, the goal being to prompt SMEs to modernize and to reduce the disparity between SMEs and large companies. Such aims were influenced by the so-called double structure theory until the revision of the Small and Medium Enterprises Basic Act in 1999. Therefore, the discourse that calls for entrepreneurs to take full responsibility over themselves to save the Japanese economy is particular to the late 1990s and 2000s.
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  • The Creation Process of Region Representation through the Recognition Conversion of Residents
    A Case of the Art Project in Naoshima, Kagawa Prefecture
    Yuka MIYAMOTO
    2012 Volume 63 Issue 3 Pages 391-407
    Published: December 31, 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: February 10, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.391
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    In recent years, the promotion of tourism by taking advantage of regional resources is becoming a regular practice in rural areas. Two questions that previous studies have failed to address are as follows: What interactions with visitors can convert the recognition of residents and generate resistance? What new resources are produced as the result of interactions between actors? This study considered the aforementioned questions using Naoshima as an example.
    The analysis of the first question revealed the fact that proactive responses of residents are generated only after the residents discover visitors' viewpoints through interactions and then acknowledge their own accountability in controlling the resources that benefit tourism. Also, the analysis of the second question revealed the fact that residents are creating region representation and producing new resources through interactions in the field of tourism.
    The analyses in this study revealed the possibility that residents can preserve their independence by creating region representation, which is the production of new resources.
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  • Non-Contractual Element in Contract Revisited
    Durkheimian Understanding on Regulatory Roles of Contract Law in Contractual Relationships
    Takayoshi RYUO
    2012 Volume 63 Issue 3 Pages 408-423
    Published: December 31, 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: February 10, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.408
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    In Division of Labour in Society, Durkheim presented a concept of social integration as organic solidarity. In contrast to a community based on the conscience collective, this type of society gives room for the rise of social differentiation. As long as social integration remains intact as a whole, however, organic solidarity will not be the same as mere economic relationships among egoistic interests; a contractual relationship is not solely based on an agreement between parties. Talcott Parsons, an influential exponent of Durkheim, restated this criticism against economic views on contract as “non-contractual element in contract.”
    What constitutes a “non-contractual element in contract”? Though this point is crucial for specifying the integrative mechanisms typical of organic solidarity, Durkheimian scholars have not yet reached a common understanding. Does this term refer to the conscience collective, the cult of the individual, non-rational foundations of society, or coercive forces derived from a society? I have come to the conclusion that it is a law of contract.
    The element distinguishing a contractual relationship from a mere economic one is that respective rights and obligations between parties are stipulated by law. If the law did not consolidate cooperative relations in division of labour, organic solidarity would not remain stable. However, the role of contract law is not primarily limited to enforcement. Contract law also performs the function of keeping contractual relations harmonious. Agreements between parties alone do not render contracts legally valid. If an agreement does not satisfy the conditions required by law, it forfeits a legal binding force. Contract law actively intervenes in the contract making process.
    Why does an agreement that meets legal criteria endorse organic solidarity? This is the key to understanding Durkheimian theoretical insights into the law. Durkheim reasoned that requirements defined by statute are in place to achieve balanced cooperation. If an agreement is deemed insufficient for peaceful coordination, it loses legal protection. This is the active regulatory force of contract law.
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  • “Nature” and “Administration” in the Theory of Suzuki Eitaro
    Preliminary Study for the “Sociology of Local Autonomy”
    Kimiaki YAMAZAKI
    2012 Volume 63 Issue 3 Pages 424-438
    Published: December 31, 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: February 10, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.424
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    The idea for Suzuki Eitaro's (1894-1966) “natural village,” which he developed in his work Principles of the Japanese Rural Sociology (1940) , came from Takata Yasuma's (1883-1972) concept of “total society,” originating from a theoretical combination of individual interactions maintaining consistency with the pluralistic concept of State. However, since Suzuki engaged in the “sociology of national society” in his later years, he criticized Takata's theory of “total society” and his pluralistic concept of State. Suzuki insisted instead that state governance created social unity. With this theory, Suzuki reviewed his concept of regional society from the perspective of power, maintaining that state governance is essential for the occurrence of regional society, and that administrative groups qualitatively transform into natural groups. This dynamic perspective from his later years suggests that the dichotomy of “nature” and “administration,” and the one-sided insistence on the former, should be reviewed. Suzuki's perspective also provides the theoretical basis for the institutionalization of community, guaranteeing autonomy for the local community. From this perspective, we should develop the “sociology of local autonomy” through international comparisons.
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