A Cultural Sociological Study of Photography as a medium for the maintenance of the self in the Individualized Society

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K02107
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 08010:Sociology-related
• Research Institution: Yokohama City University
• Principal Investigator: Tsunoda Ryuichi 横浜市立大学, 国際教養学部(教養学系), 准教授 (80631978)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 木村 絵里子 日本女子大学, 人間社会学部, 助教 (60710407)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 写真コミュニケーション / 個人化社会 / 自己 / 再帰性 / 文化社会学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Why does personal photographic culture continue to thrive so much today? In this study, we actively rethink this photographic culture as a medium for the maintenance of the self and use image analysis and theoretical research to clarify its social function. In contemporary society, photography, as a medium for the self, is changing the content of its social function. As a result, photography is actively used as a medium that supports the self as constituted by aesthetic sensations and emotions (aesthetic reflexivity) rather than as a medium that supports the self as constructed by language/narrative (cognitive reflexivity), and the specific content of its aesthetic reflexivity is changing in response to social conditions.

Free Research Field

社会学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、パーソナルなヴァナキュラー写真文化論という学術的な写真研究における新領域の本格的な展開であり、また、近現代社会論／自己論における新しい研究題材の展開を達成するという、学術的に独自性の高い着眼と方法論に基づく斬新的な研究となる。それとともに、ますます盛り上がりを見せている今日の写真文化への高い社会的関心に対しても、学術的研究として真摯な応答をおこなう試みともなる。