Japanese Sociological Review
Online ISSN : 1884-2755
Print ISSN : 0021-5414
ISSN-L : 0021-5414
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Volume 63, Issue 4
Displaying 1-18 of 18 articles from this issue
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Special Issue
  • [title in Japanese]
    [in Japanese], [in Japanese]
    2013 Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 478-486
    Published: March 31, 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: March 31, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.478
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Methodologies and Problems of Discussing Fashion
    Beyond Consumerism, Body, and Media
    Michimasa OGATA
    2013 Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 487-502
    Published: March 31, 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: March 31, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.487
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Fashion as a research field has become complex and diverse in recent years. Yet, there have been few attempts to discuss fashion studies from a consolidated point of view. This article addresses this void by revealing the three “Clothing and X” methodological approaches that have transformed fashion studies to date, namely, “Clothing and Consumerism,” “Clothing and Body,” and “Clothing and Media.” This is followed by a consideration of tasks for further sociological inquiries.
    First, this article presents the “Clothing and Consumerism” approach, which discusses the phenomenon of vogue in fashion from two aspects and results in the taxonomical breakdown of fashion studies. Subsequently, the section on “Clothing and Body” reveals how, within the movement, phenomenological views that assumed the body as a source and objectified clothing, coexisted with attempts to discuss the historicity of clothing and discover the formalized body. Finally, it demonstrates that the “Clothing and Media” outlook focuses on the role of magazines concerning fashion and the demography of their readers.
    Having canvassed the three methodological approaches in fashion studies, this article argues that future sociological inquiries of fashion must not only consolidate and reflect on these approaches but also advance beyond the form of “Clothing and X” and discuss the sociality of clothing and its changes.
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  • Material Things/Objects in Popular Culture
    Signs, Materiality, and Memory
    Hiroshi MATSUI
    2013 Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 503-518
    Published: March 31, 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: March 31, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.503
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    In recent years, it has been observed in the reception of digital media content that consumption is becoming “information” (in contrast to being the “material”). However, in popular culture, the reception of forms, which is called “material things/objects,” is still observed. The issue of “the activity of people in relation to things/objects in popular culture” lies hidden here. The purpose of this study is to find the logic of these activities in line with people's actual daily feelings from various perspectives. I develop a model for trends in character goods, action figures, plastic models, and artifacts pertaining to popular culture. After having defined this phenomenon as the theory of “popular culture as material things,” I try to derive an understanding from the theoretical viewpoints.
    One noted feature from the theory of consumer society is things as “signs,” which is a conventional view. Another feature is extracting “the material feeling of specific things” from material culture theory, in particular, “thing theory.” Yet another feature is the aspect of existence from a certain frame, which is called “recalling memory from the material environment” in collective memory theory. The underlying logic of this activity in relation to “popular culture as material things” cannot be reduced to signs/materiality/memory. This activity is a multilayered entirety in perception that involves both time and space.
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  • The Construction of “Japaneseness” and Cultural Production in Western Cities
    An Ethnography of Fashion, Industrial Designers, and Contemporary Artists
    Yuiko FUJITA
    2013 Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 519-535
    Published: March 31, 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: March 31, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.519
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    This study explores the process of cultural production in fashion, industrial design, and contemporary art in the era of globalization. It specifically addresses the following research question: “How is ‘Japaneseness’ constructed in the art worlds in western cities?”. To answer this question, I conducted a multi-sited ethnography in London, New York City, Paris, and Tokyo, using participant observation and in-depth interviews with twenty-one designers and artists who had migrated from Japan.
    The results indicated that in the art world, being part of a network of people from different professions often leads to corporative activities that result in profits. However, people in positions of power, in particular, buyers, collectors, journalists, and editors, are mostly White, although Asian designers and artists have a stronger presence these days. Therefore, race often becomes an obstacle to networking and partaking in corporative activities in the art world for the designers and artists who were interviewed. Moreover, gatekeepers and legitimators of the art world often refer to the designs and artworks of these designers and artists as having a “Japaneseness” about them, often in conjunction with stereotypical images. In conclusion, networks and interactions, which are influenced by race relations in the art world, lead to the construction of “Japaneseness.”
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  • Realities of Cultural Omnivores
    The Diminishing Gap between High Culture and Popular Culture
    Akio KOYABU, Mamoru YAMADA
    2013 Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 536-551
    Published: March 31, 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: March 31, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.536
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Many studies on popular culture have been conducted in recent years. However, there are few solid studies that treat popular culture as embedded in a broader institutional context. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between popular culture and high culture.
    Popular culture tends to lose its popularity and counterpower as the process of institutionalization and diversification accelerates. As a result, popular culture sometimes resembles high culture. On the other hand, high culture itself has come to pervade society to the extent that people regard it as popular. Today, it is hard to discern popular culture from high culture.
    The diminishing gap between high culture and popular culture results in people becoming omnivores of a wide range of cultural goods. This paper explores the realities of cultural preference by employing data obtained from a survey conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. In addition, this paper sheds light on the relationship between high culture and popular culture by examining a large collection of Minnesota Orchestra Archives at the University of Minnesota. The current and future steps in the study of popular culture is suggested in the research.
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Articles
  • Constructing Patients' Views
    A Case Study on the Development of Japanese Pediatric Clinical Practice Guidelines for Asthma
    Yosuke HATAKEYAMA
    2013 Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 552-568
    Published: March 31, 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: March 31, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.552
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Although a general consensus has recently emerged regarding the consideration of patients' views (Kanja Shiten) in medical practices, an agreement is lacking about what constitutes patients' zviews and how they are constructed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the significance of and problems in realizing patients' views through patient participation.
    For this purpose, I interviewed twelve members (four patient carers, two supervisors, four doctors, and two coordinators) about the development of Japanese clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) prepared for patients, their families, and carers of patients with pediatric asthma. Using interview data and reports describing this process, this paper explores the meaning of patients' views told by members themselves and the process of constructing such views.
    The members argued that the CPGs written by the patient carer best represented patients' views because they were based on actual patient-specific experiences. However, the doctors also claimed to have known many similar experiences. And, the members said that the procedure of CPGs development—which includes selection, seminars, discussions, writing, and proofreading—affect the documentation of patients' views. Although the patient carers participated proactively in this process; doctors provided instructions to the patient carers from a medical viewpoint, and the patient carers internalized the medical knowledge and clinical evidence provided by the doctors. In order to create uniform report, medical knowledge and clinical evidence were preferred, therefore the diversity of patients' experience was reduced.
    The results suggest that patient involvement, as a means of gaining patients' views, enables patients to influence the doctor's decisions. However, the doctors continue to control patients during the patient participation process.
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  • Veterans' Pilgrimage and the “Trivialization of War”
    The American Legion's Pilgrimages to the Western Front and the Creation of the “Living Shrine”
    Aika MOKO
    2013 Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 569-584
    Published: March 31, 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: March 31, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.569
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    In Fallen Soldiers, George Mosse argues that the conflict between the sacred and the profane was an inevitable result of the process of trivialization. According to Mosse, World War I was “trivialized” through commercialized battlefield tourism, and many veterans “deplored such trivialization.” However, his discussion does not shed light on the veterans' active participation in the growth of tourism. In order to overcome the shortcomings of his approach, it is necessary to explore the commercial aspects of veterans' pilgrimages to battlefields.
    This paper focuses on the American Legion's pilgrimages to the Western Front in the 1920s, which were conducted specifically in 1921,1922, and 1927. In 1919, the American Legion was founded by a small group of World War I veterans in Paris, and it quickly became the largest veterans' organization in the United States. The analysis in this paper is based on the data collected on these pilgrimages, such as the American Legion's annual proceedings, committees' reports, officers' letters, and official newsletters. In the analysis, I explore the pilgrimages planned by Legion officers and Legionnaires' reactions to them.
    The results indicate that the veterans themselves engaged in the “process of trivialization.” They expanded the plans and created the “living shrine” in Paris, which was not only a place of pilgrimage but also a popular tourist attraction. In conclusion, I argue that the relationship between the sacred pilgrimages and profane tourism was not conflicting, but rather complementary in nature.
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  • Reproduction of SocialStatus for Women in Contemporary Japanese Society
    Two Measurement Approaches Considered
    Aya WAKITA
    2013 Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 585-601
    Published: March 31, 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: March 31, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4057/jsr.63.585
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Through quantitative analysis, I describe in this paper the process by which women's social status is reproduced in contemporary Japanese society.
    A review of the literature indicates that for female respondents in the analysis, it is necessary to measure individual status separately from household status. Thus, in this paper, I measured both aspects of status and then analyzed the effects of family background on each of them. First, each respondent's individual status was quantified using her individual income; household status (i. e., standard of living) was quantified by household income, and family background was categorized on the basis of both her father's and mother's occupations. Then, the reproduction of the respondents' social status via family background was considered.
    Using the 2005 Japanese SSM survey for the analysis, I found that women's family background generally fell into one of four groups: (1) those whose parents both had high occupational status, (2) those whose fathers held white-collar jobs and mothers worked as homemakers, (3) those with at least one parent who was a farmer, and (4) those whose fathers held blue-collar jobs.
    Moreover, I found that the two aspects of social status are differently influenced by family background. For example, women whose parents both had high occupational status generally attain higher individual status (respondents' income) , while women who were raised by white-collar-job fathers and homemaker mothers generally attain a higher household status (household income) than the other groups.
    Considering both aspects of social status, it appears that the process by which women are differentially influenced by their parents' occupations is uniquely complex.
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