Minoru Kida : Intellectuals and Sociology in the Postwar Period in Japan

Research Project

Project/Area Number	09610181
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	Nara Women's University
Principal Investigator	NAKAJIMA Michio Nara Women's University, Faculty of Letters, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (10144635)
Project Period (FY)	1997 – 1998
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1998)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000) Fiscal Year 1998: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000) Fiscal Year 1997: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Keywords	intellectuals / social criticism / internal social criticism / Minoru Kida / external social criticism / Japanese modernism / 九〇度の転向
Research Abstract	Intellectuals and Social Criticism : Minoru Kida Revisited Chapter 1 : I try to examine various interpretations on the position of Japanese intellectuals in order to get a vivid image of attractive social criticism of our own society. Those who are referred to are intellectuals such as Itsuo Kohama, Takaaki Yoshimoto, Shunsuke Tsurumi and Keishi Saeki. This chapter maintains that attractive social criticism ought to be one which M.Walzer has called internal social criticism. Chapter 2 : My concern in this chapter is to consider how Japanese intellectuals in the postwar period treated, in relation to the problem of modernization, a small village called "mura" in Japanese. In this connection, Tsuneichi Miyamoto, a famous folklorist, is worth reconsidering. He has been considered as a conservative who wants to maintain the status-quo. The point at issue is why he has been treated like this. In my opinion that is because critics have not been able to understand the position of internal social criticism. They have only had the option of external social criticism or conservatism. Chapter 3 : Minoru Kida, a sociologist and writer, has not been fully paid attention to, and he also has been regarded as a conservative. But I think that he is a very interesting intellectual from the viewpoint of internal social criticism. I try to make an effort to maintain in this chapter that Minoru Kida was an internal social critic who opposed intensely such social criticism as Japanese modernists did. Far from being out of date in thought, Minoru Kida is an intellectual who is well worth reconsideration in this age of globalism. Appendix : Works of Minoru Kida (including articles)