Micro Sociological Analysis of Gender Display in Visual Media

2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 11610171
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 社会学(含社会福祉関係)
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University
• Principal Investigator: YASUKAWA Hajime Hitotsubashi University, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Associate Professor, 大学院・社会学研究科, 助教授 (00200501)
• Project Period (FY): 1999 – 2001
• Keywords: visual media / gender display / micro sociology / visual experience / visual sociology / reflexivity of the visual / visual data / visual-image database

Research Abstract

The purpose of this study is theoretical consideration and grounding of a sociology of visual experience : "visual sociology". Two tasks : (1) reviewing theoretically of proceeding sociological studies on visual experience, and a reorientation of visual sociology ; (2) making of visual-image database, and a pilot analysis of visual experiences of gender.
The proceeding visual sociological studies have accumulated results in two directions : the use of visual data in sociological (qualitative) research, and the sociological (semiotics-inspired) analyzes of visual image. But they, paradoxically, have treated the visual data as secondary, and disregarded or taken for granted the visual as such. We assert visual sociology should have three themes, (1) the visual experiences are socio-culturally constructed, (2) the socio-culturally constructed visuals make up the world - i.e., the visual is reflexive, and (3) the visual should be studied as socio-cultural practices. This study reviews the p roceeding studies critically and proposes some orientations of visual sociology. Then we discuss some ethnomethodological studies as the cases of the precursors.
For embodiment of the proposal, we built visual-image database with television commercial films and fashion magazines, then examine visual expressions and experiences of gender. We do not take these visual materials as reflections of something : social structure, power relationship, ideology, stereotype, etc. Visual representation is embodied through the conduct of seeing/looking as such, so the seeing/looking as such is critical. We examine gender from this standpoint. Seeing/looking and experience of gender are inseparable, and this and the construction of social process in everyday are also inseparable. Seeing/looking is constructing gender in everyday social processes.
The tasks at hand are some researches with further throughout exploitation of the database, and development of some effective visual-verbal presentation techniques of the results of this study, The latter is always the visual sociological task.