The Early Modern English Formation of the Term "Society": A Text-Mining Analysis

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03817
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sociology
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan University
• Principal Investigator: SAKO TERUHITO 首都大学東京, 人文科学研究科, 教授 (90453034)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 社会 / テキストマイニング / 概念史

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project elucidated the Early Modem English semantic history of "society" through the process of text-mining. The analysis displayed the following facts. 1) The early modern English literates considered "society" a foreign term particular to Neo-classicism found in other parts of Europe, so they equated "society" with their own vernacular words such as "fellowship" or "company". 2) Throughout the two centuries "society" functioned as a general term encompassing all types of urban associations. 3) There are several non-uniform chronological distributions of the references to the use of "society". In the early 16th century, the word implied transient relationships between two individuals. From mid-century onwards, it tended to denote more durable organizations. At the dawn of the 17th century, organizations and corporate bodies were predominantly thought of as "societies". Finally by the late 17th century, the word came to be associated with the terms concerning central authorities.

Free Research Field

社会学史、社会科学史