2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Sociological Study of the Makeup of Modern Self in Japanese by Analyzing Historical Change of Ideas of Ikigai
| Project/Area Number |
18530412
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Sociology
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| Research Institution | Waseda University |
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Principal Investigator |
WADA Shuichi Waseda University, School of Letters and Sciences, Professor (30106215)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2006 – 2007
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| Keywords | ikigai / modern self / modernization / modernit / enforced civilization / what makes life worth living / ethical consciousness / identity |
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| Research Abstract |
This project executed, in the first year, (1) a survey of collecting usage examples of ikigai word in literary works published in mid and late Edo Eras; and (2) it tried to formulate a theoretical framework to explain historical change of Japanese people's ethical consciousness indicated in a historical change of meaning ofikigai, the framework which is applicable to the historical interpretation of Japanese culture. And in next year, (1) it expanded the collection of ikigai usage in early Meiji Era, to the earliest stage of modernization of Japanese society, for the purpose of understanding relation between Japanese modernization and change of ikigai meaning; and (2) it also tried to reformulate the explanatory framework already formed in order to establish a theory that aims to understand historical process of modernization from the perspective of identity change resulting in forming modern identity. The theory is to be called`Sociology of Thigaf as it is constructed around the concept of ikigai, the concept which is introduced into the theory from the perspective of dualism. Logic of ikigai (what makes life worth living) is pecognized here as a syntagmaticlogic connecting a value paradigm and individual action orientation.
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