社会学系コンソーシアム

SPRING 2012

NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO.5

１．ご挨拶
大震災・原発事故の教訓を普遍理論に！
理事長

庄司興吉

東日本大震災・福島原発事故の発生から 1 年以上が経過しました。あCONTENTS

らためて、犠牲となられた方がたに深い哀悼の意を表するとともに、家屋損壊、避難、仕事喪失などの理由から困難な生活を強いられている方がた1

ご挨拶に､心からのお見舞いを申し上げます。社会学系コンソーシアムはこれから

2

2011 年度事業報告

も、全参加学協会とともに被災者支援と被災地復興、およびそれをテコに

3

2012 年度事業予定

した日本社会の再建に､全力をあげて取り組んでいきたいと思っています。

4

シンポジウムについて

大震災・大事故発生後の 1 年間は、どの学協会も、それらが被災者の生

52011 年度収支中間報告

活および関連社会にどのような影響を与えているかを把握し、それぞれの6

2012 年度予算案

立場から何ができるのかを考え、少しずつでも実施していくのに精一杯で7

参加学協会の動向した。義援金集めや被災会員の会費等の免除などから始まって、可能な会

8

イベントカレンダー

員がボランティアなどの形で被災地に赴き、できることをしながら、被害

9

国際動向

状況や被災者をめぐる社会状況を把握し､それらにたいして応急的にとる

10 事務局・問い合わせべき措置などを提案するのに追われました。
この状況はこのあともしばらく続くと思います。大震災や大事故で社会が大きなダメージを受けたばあい、否が応でもそれに臨床的に対応しなけ
ればならないのは､社会福祉学・社会学系諸学の宿命でしょう。しかしそれと同時に、それらの意味を理論的に考え抜き、より長期的な展望で、自然災害に強く、原発事故のような大事故を起こさない、社会のあり方を構想していくのも社会福祉学・社会学系諸学の責任です。
大規模自然災害はいわば人類共通の問題なので、自然・社会・人文諸科学の総力をあげてそれに負けない社会を創り上げていくことに、社会福祉学・社会学系諸学は貢献しなければなりません。それとともに、原発事故のような大事故は、社会のエネルギー源選択からきている人災であることは明らかなので、クリーンなエネルギーの意欲的調達を基礎にした、新しい経済社会のあり方を構想していかなければならないでしょう。
社会学コンソーシアムは、参加学協会と一体となって、東日本大震災・
福島原発事故の教訓を､これからの世界に通用する、社会分析と社会構想および社会再建の普遍理論に仕上げていかなくてはならない、と考えています。
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社会学系コンソーシアム

SPRING 2012

NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO.5

２．2011 年度事業報告

３．2012 年度事業予定

昨年度に引き続き2011年度は 「HomePage」

2012年度は、第二期理事会のリードのもと、を充実させ、また「News Letter」ならびに「コン社会学系コンソーシアムが、さらに活動内容をソーシアム通信」を発行しました。また、第３回

充実させていく年となります。日本の社会福祉臨時理事会、第４回理事会、第４回評議員会、第学・社会学の国際化に向けて、参加学協会間で二期理事による第1回理事会を開催しました。さらの情報共有などの点で貢献してまいります。まに、日本の学問の国際化というコンソーシアムのた評議員会の開催やシンポジウムの開催などは目的に向けて、世界へのメッセージ編集委員会のもちろんのこと、「コンソーシアム通信」や発足、さらには国際化に関するアンケート調査を「Newsletter」の発行など、定例事業もより内実施しました。

容を充実させていく予定です。

HomePageのさらなる充実に向け、「コンソーシアム通信」のバックナンバーやこれまでのコン✦「コンソーシアム通信」発行

ソーシアム・シンポジウムの講演概要のコーナー

参加学協会が予定する諸活動に関する情報をを設け、コンソーシアムの活動をさらに詳しく紹皆様のお手元にお届けします。「コンソーシア

介するようにしました。

ム通信」は2012年5, 8月と2013年1月に第13号、第14号、第15号が発行される予定です。

｢コンソーシアム通信｣についても、これまで同様、３度にわたって発刊しました（第10号：2011✦評議員会開催

年5月、第11号を2011年8月、第12号を2012年１月）。それぞれの内容は、イベント情報、参加学

コンソーシアム評議員（各学協会より2 名ず協会に関連するその他の情報、また事務局からのつ） が集い、評議員会を開催いたします。コン

お知らせでした。

ソーシアム活動について意思決定をおこなう重要な機会となります。

また評議員会と理事会では、理事改選および今後のコンソーシアムのあり方に向けて審議を重ねました。2012年1月の評議員会で新規理事が選出✦コンソーシアム・シンポジウム開催され、第二期理事会では事務局機能が分割される

2012年度も、シンポジウムを開催いたします。

ことも決まりました。また、2014年世界社会学会

シンポジウムでは、参加学協会の共通の関心事

大会に向けて刊行する「世界へのメッセージ」編

や問題、また社会福祉学・社会学領域での重要集準備委員会を経て、編集委員会が正式に発足し事項などを議論いたします。また、2012年度かました。

らはシンポジウム担当理事を設け、より充実したシンポジウムの開催を目指します。

社会学系コンソーシアム主催シンポジウムとして、2012年1月22日に日本学術会議講堂にて、「日本そして世界へのメッセージ✦NewsLetter第6号発行

3.11を受けて－東

日本大震災・原発災害と社会福祉学、社会学から2012年度のニュースレターを発行し、参加学－」を開催しました。「シンポジウムについて」

協会及び社会への情報提供をさらに充実させてにて、このシンポジウムでの議論を紹介していま

いきます。

す。
以上
2

社会学系コンソーシアム

SPRING 2012

NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO.5

４．シンポジウムについて

社会学会・明治学院大学教授）では、支援活動を研究活動というフレームワークから捉え直し、学2012 年 1 月 22 日（日）に社会学系コンソーシ

生ボランティアの取り組みを参考に地域再生に結アム公開シンポジウム「日本そして世界へのメッ

びつく復興支援活動を有効かつ継続的に行うためセージの必要要件が検討され、復興支援活動に対する社

3.11 を受けて－東日本大震災・原発災害と社会福祉学、社会学から－」が日本学術会議講会科学者の貢献が論じられました。

堂にて開催されました。当日は加盟団体からの参休憩をはさんだ後の全体討論でも、これらの報加者のみならず、一般参加者も多く、例年以上に告を基に、東北の復興のために必要な支援のあり盛会でした。

方が議論されました。

シンポジウムでは震災復興に関する５つの研究が報告されました。まず、「東北発の復興論

なお、各報告の要旨については、コンソーシア

再生

ム・ホームページをご覧ください。

はどこから始まるのか」 （山下祐介、日本社会分

http://www.socconso.com/symposium/index.html

析学会・首都大学東京准教授）では、東京に暮らす人々と東北に暮らす人々との間の認識のズレ、さらには復興に限らずあらゆる活動が東京中心となっておこなわれる中央・地方の関係が震災復興に及ぼしている問題点が指摘されました。
「放射能汚染という言葉を、人々はどのように受け取ったのか―いわき市で暮らして―」 （本多創史、社会事業史学会・東日本国際大学准教授） では、福島
第一原発事故による放射性汚染を福島で暮らす
人々がどのように受け取っているのか、その現状が報告されました。
「被災地・被災者の地域再生と生活支援の針路―社会福祉学の立場から―」 （野口定久、日本社会福祉学会・日本福祉大学教授・
日本学術会議連携会員）では、社会福祉学の立場
から、主として「居住福祉資源」・「地域福祉計画」・「ソーシャルワーク支援」の側面から被災地の地域再生と被災者の生活支援の針路についての考察が展開されました。「震災復興支援の市民活動」 （佐藤恵、福祉社会学会・桜美林大学准教授） では、原発事故に議論が集中することによって「震災弱者」とされる障害者（や高齢者等）の抱える困難が見過ごされ、社会的に取り残されていくこと、およびそうした人々に対する支援活動の必要性が提起されました。
「学生ボランティアによる復興支援活動と地域再生―岩手県大槌町吉里
吉里地区を事例として―」 （浅川達人、日本都市3社会学系コンソーシアム

SPRING 2012

NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO.5

５．2011 年度収支中間報告（2012 年 3 月 10 日時点）
（自2011年4月1日 至2012年3月10日）
収入の部

I.

科

目

中間報告

予実績差異

会費

550,000

530,000-20,000(1) 年会費１万円相当

220,000

200,000-20,000(2) 年会費 2 万円相当

100,000

100,000

0(3) 年会費 3 万円相当

30,00030,0000(4) 年会費 10 万円相当

200,000

200,0000１

予算額

東北社会学会及び東北社会学

２

雑収入・寄付

0

82

82

３

前年度繰越金

15,27892,057

76,779565,278

622,139

56,779

収入合計

備考

研究会の年会費免除

利子

支出の部

II.

科

目

予算額

中間報告

予実績差異

事務局経費

252,000

254,119-2,119(1)スタッフ謝金

240,000

240,000

0

2,000

3,300

-1,300000(4)事務管理用品

10,00010,819

-819

２

借入金償還

50,00050,0000３

定例会議・理事会開催費

180,000

153,371

26,629(1)評議員会・理事会開催費

30,00023,281

6,719(2)定例シンポジウム開催費

140,000

122,718

17,282(3)委員会開催費

10,000

7,372

2,628

予備費

83,278

20,16063,118

支出合計中間報告565,278477,650

87,628１(2)HP レンタル・サーバー代(3)メールアドレス維持費

４

備考「メッセージ」編集準備委員会
東北社会学会及び東北社会学研

4

究会の前年度年会費返還

社会学系コンソーシアム

SPRING 2012

NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO.5

６．2012 年度予算案（2012 年 1 月 22 日 評議員会にて承認）（自 2012 年 4 月 1 日 至 2013 年 3 月 31 日）
I.

収入の部
科

目

予算額

1 会費

550,000(1)年会費 1 万円相当

220,000(2)年会費 2 万円相当

100,000(3)年会費 3 万円相当

30,000(4)年会費 10 万円相当

200,000

2 雑収入・寄付

0

3 前年度繰越金

120,884

収入合計

II.

670,884

支出の部
科

目

1 事務局経費

予算額

備考

373,800(1)スタッフ謝金

360,000(2)HP レンタル・サーバー、ドメイン代

3,800(3)事務管理用品

10,000

2 定例会議・理事会開催費

120,000＊3 人

160,000(1)評議員会・理事会開催費

20,000 評議員会 1 回、理事会 1 回(2)定例シンポジウム開催費

130,000(3)委員会開催費

10,000

国際交流委員会

3 予備費

137,084
支出合計

670,884

5「世界へのメッセージ」編集委員会

社会学系コンソーシアム

SPRING 2012

NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO.5

７．参加学協会の動向

８．2012 年度イベントカレンダー（2012年3月10日現在、50音順）

５月
11-13 日 社会事業史学会 第 40 回大会(日本女子大学 目白キャンパス)http://www.jshsw.cher-ish.net/
12-13 日 地域社会学会 第 37 回大会(慶應義塾大学)
http://jarcs.sakura.ne.jp/
19-20 日 西日本社会学会 第 70 回大会(鹿児島大学)
http://www2.lit.kyushu-u.ac.jp/~sociowest/taikai/index.html
19-20 日 日本保健医療社会学会 第 38 回大会(神戸市看護大学)
http://jhms38.umin.ne.jp/index.html
26-27 日 関西社会学会 第 63 回大会(皇學館大学)
http://www.ksac.jp/
27 日 日本社会福祉学会 第 59 回春季大会(東洋大学 白山キャンパス)http://www.jssw.jp/event/index.html

環境社会学会
関西社会学会
関東社会学会
社会事業史学会
社会情報学会
数理社会学会
地域社会学会
東北社会学研究会
東北社会学会
西日本社会学会
日中社会学会
日仏社会学会
日米高齢者保健福祉学会
日本解放社会学会
日本家族社会学会
日本看護福祉学会
日本社会学理論学会
日本社会学会
日本社会学史学会
日本社会病理学会

６月
2-3 日 福祉社会学会 第 10 回大会(東北大学川内キャンパス)http://www.jws-assoc.jp/
9 日 北海道社会学会 2012 年度大会 (國學院大学北海道短期大学部)
http://www.hsa-sociology.org/taikai.html
9-10 日 関東社会学会第 60 回大会(帝京大学八王子キャンパス)http://kantohsociologicalsociety.jp/30-1 日 日本社会学史学会大会(千葉経済大学)
http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jashs/
７月
7-8 日 日本看護福祉学会 第 25 回学術大会(文教大学越谷キャンパス)http://kangofukushi.sakura.ne.jp/taikai/index.htm
14-15 日 日本社会分析学会 第 123 回例会(山口大学)
http://scs.kyushu-u.ac.jp/~sasa/
15-16 日 東北社会学会 第 59 回大会(山形大学)
http://tss.sal.tohoku.ac.jp/

日本社会福祉学会
日本社会分析学会
日本スポーツ社会学会
日本村落研究学会

９月
1-2 日 日本解放社会学会 第 28 回大会(松山大学)
http://sociology.r1.shudo-u.ac.jp/liberty/index.html
8-9 日 日本都市社会学会第 30 回大会(立教大学)
http://urbansocio.sakura.ne.jp/taikai.html

日本都市社会学会
日本難病看護学会
日本保健医療社会学会
日本ﾏｽ･ｺﾐｭﾆｹｰｼｮﾝ学会
日本労働社会学会
福祉社会学会
北海道社会学会

14-16 日 社会情報学会：日本社会情報学会(JASI)(JSIS)４月統合予定(群馬大学荒牧キャンパス)http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jsis/16-17 日 日本家族社会学会 第 22 回大会(お茶の水女子大学)
http://www.wdc-jp.com/jsfs/regulation/index.html
29-30 日 日本社会病理学会 第 28 回大会(大阪市立大学)
http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jasp/
10 月
20-21 日 日本社会福祉学会 第 60 回秋季大会(関西学院大学)
http://www.jssw.jp/event/index.html
11 月
3-4 日 日本社会学会 第 85 回大会(札幌学院大学)
http://www.gakkai.ne.jp/jss/6社会学系コンソーシアム

SPRING 2012

NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO.5

９．国際動向study of transversal issues and phenomena,
inscribed within globalization: cultural and reli-Globalization, Migration and Cultural
Recomposition.
Latin America in a Global World

gious movements, changes in identities, new

LE BOT, Yvon,

Development, dependency and globaliza-

Senior Research Fellow, CADIS,

tion.The end of the Latin-American specific-

CNRS/EHESS, Paris (France)

ity.

forms of violence and social and cultural reconstructions within migrations.

In Latin America, the 20th Century was
dominated by processes of modernization andnational integration, led by the States and bycollective actors. These were powerful movements but strongly impeded by the situation of
dependency of the region.
Mainly from the 1950s to the 1970s, the area
was in the centre of the debates about the riseof the middle class, about urbanization and

About the author:
Prof. Yvon Le Bot, senior researcher at the Centred’Analyse et d’Intervention Sociologiques, CADIS(Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales/
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris).
He is currently Marie Curie Fellow (European Commission). He is board member of Research Committee «Social Classes and Social Movements » ofthe International Sociological Association. Since
1968, he has carried out extensive field work in several Latin American countries, in United States,
Canada and Europe, for the CNRS and the United
Nations. He has been engaged in comparative andanalytical studies, focusing on community issues,modernity, violence, armed conflicts, ethnic questions, social movements and migration. His current
research is on cultural movements and globalization,social and cultural actors among transnational migrants in North America and Europe. He is the author of several books including La guerre en terremaya (1992), Violence de la modernité en Amériquelatine (1994), Le rêve zapatiste (1997, seven foreign
editions, including a Japanese edition by Gendaikikakushitsu Publishers, 2005), La grande révolte
indienne (2009). He has published several dozens ofpeer reviewed articles on leading international journals and has participated in numerous collective
books.

marginality, development and underdevelopment, dependency, populisms and revolutionary
struggles.
Over the last few decades, the great paradigms declined. Latin America lost unity, specificity and visibility.
The continent entered the democratic normality and opened to global flows. At the sametime, processes of fragmentation extended: inequalities grew, dualizations multiplied, violence
became more diverse and demands for recognition expanded. The attitude towards modernity became ambivalent and temptations of
neo-populism appeared.
The sociology of Latin America is now directly
linked to the concerns, questions and themesthat are also present in the societies of the firstworld. There is no more a « Latin-American

Contribution of the sociology of Latin America

specificity ».

to general sociology today goes through the7社会学系コンソーシアム

SPRING 2012

NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO.5

Social and cultural movements in Latincharacterized, at the same time, by the rise of

America

neo-communitarian powers and violence, theThe great paradigms went away together with

Indian struggles in Latin America are among thethe erasing of historical actors: nations andfew movements that combine social conflicts,

classes.

cultural projects and democratic aims. Today, in

The national-popular States broke down inseveral Latin-American societies, they consti-

the 1960s and 1970s. The revolutionary utopias

tute the main, if not the only social movement.

and the military dictatorships collapsed in the

Depending on the countries, contexts and mo-

1980s. Latin America entered into a period ofments, they focus on economical modernization,

democratic transitions and neo-conservativesocial and national integration, ethical protest,

globalization. New actors appeared. They com-

ethnic specificity, religious community or transi-bine social demands and affirmation of identities.

tion to democracy.

They distance themselves from armed groups(guerrillas) and from the institutional sphere, as

Circulating migrants
Nation-States were natural frames for thewell. They identify with the civil society.
In Latin America, as in other continents, social

conflicts in which the main stakes were national

and political conflicts acquire strong cultural

integration, political power or state control ofdimensions. Movements built around issues ofdevelopment. They are not sufficient or evenmemory and symbolic debt, colonial past andpertinent for the analysis of the changes linked

racism, ethnic or religious identity, stakes ofto globalization, international migrations, trans-

recognition, justice and dignity have taken on annational networks or cultural transfers.
Circulating migrants are a perfect illustration

increasing importance and have often taken theof the separation that is taking place today be-place abandoned by the classical actors.
The Indian movements are the ones that best

tween the globalized economy, fragmented so-

illustrate the rise of new actors. During the lastcieties and political systems that are losing theirfour or five decades, they have arisen to thehold over the economy and society. These mi-centre of the national scene in several countries.

grants are motivated by the desire to be part ofIn other places, they mobilize important minori-

the transnational flows of the labour market andties or reduced groups and develop mainly on athey are outside the framework and institutions

local or regional scale.

of the Nation-State.

But, their importance is not based only on

New identities are being constructed. They

their scale. The main interest of these move-are nourished by coming and going between

ments lies in the orientations and meanings

two or more countries. In addition to the “immi-

they carry and spread far beyond their group.

grant” who came from a sending society to set-

They substantially modify the national imagi-

tle and possibly to integrate into a host society,naries and introduce cultural rights in the defini-we have today an increasing proportion of mi-tion of democracy.

grants whose experience consists in being “onboth sides”, “here and there” at the same time

In a world dominated by the markets and8社会学系コンソーシアム

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Social Justice and Democratization

over a long period.
The experience of transnational migration
actually illustrates, in the strongest and mostMichael Burawoy

meaningful way possible, the relative and un-

Professor, The University of California,

stable character of identities and borders which

Berkeley (USA)inter-cross on a stage of fragmented globalization.
Latino movement in USA
According to a very common point of view, amassive mobilization of the immigrants in countries of the first world, and especially of the illegal ones, is improbable or impossible.

Latinomigrants in the United States, in majority Mexicans, contradicted that vision in a spectacular

About the author:

manner. The Latino movement of 2006 was the

Michael Burawoy is President of the International
Sociological Association. He also teaches sociology
at the University of California, Berkeley, where hehas launched a series of global courses, most recently Public Sociology, Live! that can be found ontheISA
websitehttp://www.isa-sociology.org/public-sociology-live/

most important social movement in the U.S. in
decades. It mobilized millions of immigrants,
youth and adults, families with their children andhigh school students; more than the Civil Rights
Movement of the 60s and more than theanti-Vietnam War Movement during the 70s.

The theme of the International Sociological

Peaceful and happy crowds surged along

Association’s Forum to be held in Buenos Aires,streets in more than a hundred big, medium andAugust 1-4, is “social justice and democratiza-

small towns across the country, from San Diegotion” -- especially apt given the global escalation

to Washington and New York, including modest

of social protest during the last year. These

localities in the Midwest - even in Utah. On that

protests have pointedly raised the question ofoccasion, Los Angeles and Dallas, among otherthe relation between social justice and democ-

cities, had the biggest demonstrations in theirratization.

history.

On the one hand, where dictator-

ships reign, can demands for social justice -- forThis movement invites us to re-think the rela-greater economic equality and social security –tions between migratory experience, collective

lead to their overthrow and the installation ofaction and self-construction. It introduces pos-democracy? On the other hand, where there issibilities of re-articulation of the social and theformal democracy, can demands for social jus-

cultural spheres – less probably the politics – bytice be pursued through its channels? What do

the actors of the globalization from below.

the recent social protests in the Arab World,
Southern Europe, Latin America, Asia and North
America have to say about these questions?
9社会学系コンソーシアム

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What do the Japanese protests against nuclear

dia social justice demands are pursued throughpower have to say about these questions?

direct action against local powers rather thanIt was the self-immolation of Mohammed

the national political regime.

Bouazizi -- a poor Tunisian street vendor, una-

Similar struggles against the expropriation ofble to pay the bribes to keep his small businessland for mining companies or the destruction ofgoing, perpetually harassed by the police -- that

communities by the building of dams, elicits

sparked a psychic revolution if not a social rev-protest not just in Asia but all over Latin America.

olution across the Arab world.

Enough wasProtests against the enormous Belo Monte dam

enough – political oppression and economic

to be built in Amazonian Brazil first led to a legal

marginalization had made life unbearable soruling against the company, a ruling that wasthat rebellion was the only way forward.

After

recently reversed. Even where the courts rule

Tunisia, Egypt and Libya fell one after the next.

against expropriation as in Colombia the gov-

Dictatorial regimes were no longer invincible. In

ernment takes little notice. Again parliamentary

Syria the opposition to the Assad dictatorshipdemocracy has its limitations in containing therefuses to back down despite the brutal mas-interests of big capital.

sacres. When demands for social justice that

If we move from Asia and Latin America toinspired the Arab street in the beginning wereSouthern Europe -- to Spain, Portugal, andignored, they gave way to the narrower de-

Greece where fiscal austerity imposed bymands for the immediate dissolution of politicalbankrupt states have brought violent protest into

dictatorships.

public spaces.

The Egyptian “January 25”

As wages fall and unemploy-

Revolution of 2011 now looks more like a mili-ment soars, so the speculative machinations oftary coup that has successfully out-maneuvered

international capital were revealed. Inspired by

the protestors, notwithstanding the historic

Tahrir on the one side and the Spanishelections for parliament.

indignados on the other, the Occupy Wall Street

In India and China, a different set of protests

Movement developed a new rhetoric that at-have attracted public attention, protests aroundtacked the 1% whose ill-gotten gains came atland confiscation.

the expense of the 99%.

Most famously, the people

The Obama admin-of the township of Wukan in South China cou-

istration followed the Bush administration left off,

rageously surrounded the communist party of-continuing the bail out of the very banks whose

fices, attacking them for land grabs for real es-

manipulations brought the financial system into

tate development. This is parallel to the local

crisis. This was socialism for the bankers, dis-struggles in India against land expropriations forpossession of the 99% by the 1% through theSpecial Economic Zones, such as the mostcreation of debt. Parliamentary democracy has

famous case of Nandigram in West Bengal

shown itself to be powerless to pursue any so-where 14 people were killed. This ham-fisted

cial justice program.

intervention of the state was one reason thecall of the Occupy Movement is Direct Democ-

Communist Party lost power in West Bengal forracy through the General Assembly and a poli-

the first time in 34 years. In both China and In-

tics of horizontalism.

10

No wonder the clarion

Confidence in parlia-

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mentary democracy to stem the tide of capitalist

may be necessary but by no means sufficientdispossession is at a low ebb.

for progress toward social justice.

Having commodified labor, land and money,
March 4, 2012

capitalism took on the final hold out -knowledge.

With certain exceptions such as

China, Taiwan, Brazil and certain parts of Europe, the state has withdrawn public funding
from higher education, creating legislation to

Happiness and Ethics

encourage the privatization of knowledge pro-

LARATTA, Rosario. MPA, MSO, Ph.D.
Graduate School of Governance Studies
Meiji University, Tokyo

duction, and more broadly demanding that universities finance themselves. So universities
turn directly to capital and capital obliges, bycreating its own universities, by sponsoring research, and generally by investing in the production of knowledge.

But the overwhelming

costs are born by students who mortgage their
futures by taking out hefty loans to pay for thesoaring fees. As university education becomes
ever more costly, so it becomes even morenecessary to land a job in an ever more competitive labor market.

An outraged precariat is

About the author:born whose anger will not subside, that will not

Before his current appointment at Meiji University, heheld a post as Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science Fellow at the University of Tokyo and a lectureship position at the International Christian University. He earned an MA and a Ph.D. in sociology
from Warwick University (United Kingdom). He is theauthor of four books and more than forty
peer-reviewed papers on leading international journals such as the Cambridge Journal of Social Policy
and Society, the International Journal of Sociology
and Social Policy, the International Journal of Social
Welfare, and the International Journal of Civil Society
Law. He is a member of a number of academic associations on nonprofit organizations, social welfare
and public administration in Italy, UK and Japan.

be taken in by the trappings of liberal democracy. Behind democracy stands the police andbehind them the military, revealing themselvesin a naked show of force, often in contempt of
the rule of law. Violence feeds protest, radicalizing the very meaning of democracy.
If sociology is to keep up with history, it would
do well to extend the study of social stratification
to include a focus on the way the rich and super-rich make their money, extend conventionalsocial movement theory to include the structuralcontext of protest, extend the study of symbolic

Introduction

violence to include its relation to state violence,

The 2009 report from the Prince's Trust, a youth

and recognize the limits as well as the virtues ofcharity that helps change young lives, claimed

parliamentary democracy. Sociology has tothat “one in 10 British young people think thatconsider the hypothesis that formal democracy

life is not worth living.” Of the 2,004 young peo-11

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ple polled as part of the Trust's online survey,2) non-generosity - an unwillingness to give

12% said that life was meaningless, and over apossessions to or share possessions with oth-quarter claimed that they were ‘often’ or ‘always’

ers.

depressed (www.gurdian.co.uk). One important3) envy - a displeasure or ill will at the superior-finding of the study was that this unhappinessity of another person in happiness, success,was very much related to material conditions

reputation, or the possession of anything de-such as inequality and unemployment -sirable.

andthis was three years ago when the financial cri-4) preservation - the conservation of events,

sis had not yet spread through Europe.

experiences, and memories in material form.

However, theologians and philosophers have

However, Kasser (2002) argues that “it is notlong maintained that materialism is incompatible

materialism which causes unhappiness directly,with a life of virtue. Recurringly, the pursuit ofbut that unhappiness and materialism are mu-material wealth is viewed as empty and tending

tually reinforcing mechanisms.” He showed thatto preclude one's investment in family, friends,

there is clear evidence that people who haveself-actualization and participation in the social

experienced true deprivation are those who,

community (Fournier and Richins 1991; Kasser

later in life, are the most materialistic. This is

and Ryan 1993). Robert Putnum, the author of

because insecurity breeds materialism, but the

Bowling Alone, says "In the ten short years

pursuit of materialistic goals fails to increase

between 1985 and 1994, active involvement inhappiness (ibid.)community organizations in the US fell by 45
percent. By this measure, nearly half of Ameri-

In an attempt to understand the diffused feel-ca's civic infrastructure was obliterated in nearlyings of unhappiness and lack of trust that wea decade" (2000, p. 60). People are participat-

perceive today, especially among young people,

ing less and less in activities that once brought

this essay will focus on the relationship between

fulfillment and happiness, such as volunteer

happiness and ethics.

work, church activities, and even bowling
leagues. The consumerism mindset has helped

Hypothesis

to shift the source of true happiness – which

I started from a simple Christian assumption,

Aristotle called the ‘chief good’ - from intangible

namely that if life, which is given and must one

entities such as relationships and faith to mate-

day be returned, is to be lived happily one mustrial objects.

adhere to ethical principles.

According to Ger and Belk (1996), materialism

Discussion

includes four traits:

In the classical works of the Greek and Oriental

1) possessiveness - the inclination and ten-philosophers, life is described as ‘power in con-dency to retain control or ownership of one's

tinuous expansion’. In the past, before such

possessions.

phenomena as globalization or consumerism

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existed, this power could be expanded muchto deal with this problem of desire? The answer

more easily than is possible nowadays. Today,

in my opinion is that it needs to be guided, andour capacity to expand power needs to cater for

to do this we must draw on our virtue. In thea number of variables that were unnecessary incatholic tradition, virtue was often identified withprevious eras. Furthermore, while our prede-the notion of ‘conformity’ with the external world.

cessors had to change their power faster than

Therefore, a man was no longer a man of virtue

the slowly changing world in which they lived in

if he transgressed certain social norms, where-

order to expand it, today we have to do the op-

as today such men would probably be called

posite and unceasingly maintain a certain sta-

perverse because we live in a world with fewer

bility of power in a world which is changing

social norms. However, my view is that this is a

rapidly. This is no easy task. To use an expres-simplified attempt to understand the truesion which we hear often, ‘people must havemeaning of virtue. If we look at the Greek word

character’. But what is ‘character’? I am said tofor virtue we find that it is often related to thebe ‘hot tempered’, but is that my character?

term virtuoso which is ‘knowing how to manage

Well, if so, it is only one element of it, which we

the risk’, or, ‘having the ability to survive’. We

can call my ‘driving force’. In other words, if the

can interpret this second definition as ‘the ability

power to remain stable during a process ofto organize desire’, which fundamentally con-change is applied to both body and mind, we

stitutes a strategy oriented toward ‘good’, where

can say that it constitutes a driving force. How-

‘good’ is viewed in a Hegelian way as theever, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that there isself-determination or freedom. This does notanother aspect to our character, which is ‘will

mean that an entity is free when it is determined

power’.

For example, TV commercials capi-

by ‘itself’ rather than by some ‘other’, which

talize on our desire to be happy and create un-would automatically imply self-sufficiency, in-happiness instead. Without will power, which

dependence, and self-realization. To the con-accords us the ability to distinguish between

trary, Hegel’s metaphysical doctrine teaches us

good and bad desires, our lives would becomethat every being can be determined only in rela-a perpetual cycle of materialistic impulses sus-tion to some other. Thus, self-determination ortained by the driving force. Our urges present

freedom, according to Hegel, means ‘be-themselves in an infinite variety of forms. They

ing-with-oneself-in-some-other’ which, althoughcontinually drive us to discover, invent, movedifficult to accept as rational, is in fact real (andtoward the unknown. To make matters more

therefore rational) in the case of ‘love’, for in-complicated, our power has a finite amount of

stance, where, through an act offorce and, unfortunately, the mind is unable toidentification with the welfare of another, the self

recognize its own limitations. Therefore, push-ceases to see the demands of the other as

ing beyond those limits could mean exceeding

self-limiting. This concept of self-determination

the power of the body, which is dangerous.

is integrally re-proposed in the writings of Spi-

conscious

noza when he states that self-determination canbe actualized only if a person is able to enter in

From here comes the question, what can we do13社会学系コンソーシアム

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NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO.5

relationship with another.

5. Kasser, Tim, and Ryan, Richard M. 1993. "A
Dark Side of the American Dream: Correlates ofConclusion

Financial Success as a Central Life, Journal of

I believe that the diffused unhappiness and lack

Personalityof trust among young people these days are the410-422..

andSocial

Psychology,

65,

products of a lack of ability to organize (guide)

6. Putnam, R. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse

desire, which in other words, is the inability to

and Revival of American Community. New York:

keep power stable in a constantly changing

Simon & Schuster

world. But this ability exists in the form of virtue,

7. Spinoza’s thoughts on Ethics in Spinoza, B.

which is a strategy oriented toward good or1997 (Reprinted). Ethics. MTSU Philosophy

self-determination which cannot be actualized in

WebWorks Hypertext Edition

separation from another (this can be our future

Websites:

generation, our spouse, our children, our col-1. Prince’s Trust: http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/

leagues, etc.). It is here that ethics, in the sense

2. Davis, R. Making life worth living.

of ‘taking care, being responsible’ becomes anwww.guardian.co.uk , Monday 5 January 2009,

aspect of the character of a person which is

14.38 GMT

indispensable to our self-determination or freedom, and is not just a matter of duty.
References:
1. Fournier, Susan, and Richins, Marsha L. 1991.
"Some Theoretical and Popular Notions Concerning Materialism", in Rudmin, F.W. (ed.), To
Have Possessions: A Handbook on Ownershipand Property, [special i ssuc], Journal of Social
Behavior and Personality, 6, 403-414.
2. Ger, G., and Belk, R.W.1996. Cross-culture
differences in materialism. Journal of Economic
Psychology, 17(1), 55-77.
3. Hegel’s thoughts on Morality in Hegel, G.W.F.
1991(Reprinted). Elements of the Philosophy ofRight. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Kasser, T. 2002. The High Price of Materialism.
Cambridge: MIT Press.

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