Okinawan Joyrider and Lads, and Their Lives There After: Through Participant Observation and Life History Research over Five Years

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26780300
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Sociology
• Research Institution: Institute on Social Theory and Dynamics
• Principal Investigator: UCHIKOSHI MASAYUKI 特定非営利活動法人社会理論・動態研究所, 研究部, 研究員 (30601801)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 暴走族 / ヤンキー / 沖縄 / 参与観察 / 生活史 / 地元 / 貧困 / 若者

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This is a follow-up study of lower-class youth in Okinawa.
In 2007, when the initial study commenced, many delinquent young people (“motorcycle gangs” and “Yankees”) in Okinawa had unstable family relationships, hardly attended their junior high school, and rarely had stable employment. The first aim of this study is to trace these people to find out to whom, where, and how they have been connected since then, what kind of experiences they have accumulated, what kind of work they do, and what kind of life they lead now. The second aim is to construct concepts and frameworks in order to analyze the reality of the work and life of lower-class youth in Okinawa that has been revealed through research.
Planned participant observation and life history research are progressing well, and the findings have been published as conference presentations, articles, and books.

Free Research Field

社会学