­­­­Kagoshima University Computing & Communications Center[1]

“Publications,” 2003, No. 16　

Special Feature

Introduction of Study Cases

 

“Symbolic Interactionism Notes” Web Release[2]

 

 

Tsukasa Kuwabara

Department of Economics, Faculty of Law, Economics and Humanities

k8716665@kadai.jp

 

I have been studying sociological theory, specifically “Symbolic Interactionism,” since graduate school. The first time I came in contact with this theory was after I was admitted to the Department of Regional Science of the Faculty of Letters at Kumamoto University (April, 1988), and I switched from taking the “Folklore Studies Course” to the “Sociology Course,” and began studying medical sociology. The field of medical sociology includes a wide range of topics, but my focus was on researching the communication/interaction between the medical staff and patients in hospice care. Through my research, I studied the theories of sociologists, B. G. Glaser and A. L. Strauss. However, after graduated university, when I was an “Auditing Student,” Graduate School of Literature, Kumamoto University, 1993, I learned that the latter of the two had played a part in a theory—perspective and method-- called “Symbolic Interactionism,” of which I later made my specialty, as my interest shifted to the theory itself, drifting away from medical sociology. I have been posting and archiving[3] relevant information on my homepage  [ http://warp.da.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/9852280/ecowww.leh.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/staff/kuwabara/ ][4] since 2001.[5] Below is a detailed list.

(1)   “Bibliography of Symbolic Interactionism”

(2)   “Graduation Thesis Abstract”

(3)   “Master’s Thesis”

(4)   “Master’s Thesis Abstract”

(5)   “Doctoral Thesis”

(6)   “Doctoral Thesis Abstract”

(7)   “The First Chicago School of Sociology and Blumer’s Symbolic Interactionism”

(8)   “The Social Nature of Self”

(9)   “Interaction and Mutual Consent”

 

About (1) “Bibliography of Symbolic Interactionism” [ http://megalodon.jp/2016-0609-1313-46/ecowww.leh.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/staff/kuwabara/SI.htm ]

Symbolic Interactionism (SI) is one of the sociological and social psychological perspectives that American sociologist, Herbert George Blumer (1900–1987), established in the beginning of the 1960s. It focuses on the social interaction of humans, symbolic interaction in particular, and tries to explain such phenomena from the “actor’s perspective.” The historical origin of SI is normally traced back to the works of George Herbert Mead (1863–1931). Mead has published many works in his lifetime, but his impact to SI mainly came from, 1) published lecture transcripts and notes taken by his students, and 2) through the interpretations of Mead’s work by his student at the time, Blumer. Blumer published many papers in the 1950s and 60s, systematizing SI. There was a period of time in which “SI” was synonymous with Blumer’s. However, new leaders of SI appeared in the 70s and 80s, such as Norman Denzin, Anselm Strauss, Sheldon Stryker, and Gary Fine, which lead to it being explored in new directions, as well as the development of various criticisms. Further, in the 80s, Erving Goffman presented the method of Dramaturgy. I have tried to put together as many research papers and bodies of work, domestic and international, relating to SI as possible. In enumerating the literature, I followed the explanatory notes in Sociology of Social Processes [ http://warp.da.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1195815/ecowww.leh.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/staff/kuwabara/doctor.htm ] as a general rule. This bibliography is currently being linked to the sites below:

 

1)      “The Research Society of Social Science Foundations” http://www.wakhok.ac.jp/~harie/kisokenlist.html[6]

… (The Research Society of Sociology and Social Science Foundations is based on the principles of “questioning the foundations” and “ensuring sufficient discussion,” held by Hironao Harie, Wakkanai Hokusei Gakuen University).

2)      “Sunday Sociology” http://thought.ne.jp/luhmann/list/weblist03.html[7]

… (Book guides, analects, translations, etc., relating to German sociologist, N. Luhmann. Created by Taito Sakai.)

3)      “Electronic Bibliography of Sociological Works (Osaka University)” http://risya3.hus.osaka-u.ac.jp/Links/bib.html[8]

… (A collection of links to online sociological literary works.)

4)      “Secondary Reference List Regarding Mead (Domestic)” http://isweb43.infoseek.co.jp/school/taka-y02/[9]

… Created by Takanori Yamao, Sakushin Gakuin University)

5)      “Human Resource Management & Organizational Behavior” http://www.geocities.co.jp/WallStreet/4716/index.html[10]

… (“Key Points of Symbolic Interactionism” http://www.geocities.co.jp/WallStreet/4716/symblicinteraction.htm[11])

6)      “Kenichi Wakita’s Homepage” http://www.anna.iwate-pu.ac.jp/~wakita/index.htm

… (“Links” http://www.anna.iwate-pu.ac.jp/~wakita/link-2.htm)

 

About (2) “Graduation Thesis Abstract (Sociology Course, Regional Science Department, Faculty of Letters at Kumamoto University)” [ https://web.archive.org/web/20141111040347/http://space.geocities.jp/isssn03890104no54/phd12a.jpg ] [12]

…The paper attempts to explicate the mechanism by which the brain death and organ transplant issues are generated via William Fielding Ogburn’s theory of Cultural Lag. When discussing social change, Ogburn argued that it is the culture that is changing rather than society, categorizing culture into material culture, adaptive culture, and psychological culture (the latter two “cultures” are collectively called “non-material culture”). According to Ogburn, the speeds in which each of these three cultures changes are not the same, resulting in a “lag.” In other words, whereas material culture changes quickly, adaptive culture lags behind in its speed of changing, and psychological culture lags even further. Ogburn coined this phenomenon as “cultural lag,” and with rapid cultural changes in modern society, it has become a prominent social issue. The examinations of this paper (Graduation Thesis, Kumamoto University) clearly show that the brain death and organ transplant issues in Japan are results of this cultural lag--material culture = “state-of-the-art medical technology, particularly that of respirators, angiorrhaphy, and immunosuppressants,” adaptive culture = “law, particularly the Organ Transplant Law, etc.,” psychological culture = “Japanese people’s view of life and death, and remains”--(Economic Society of Kagoshima University, 2001, Journal of Economics and Sociology, Kagoshima University, No.  54: 80 - 81[13])…

 

About (3) “Master’s Thesis” [ http://hdl.handle.net/10232/17478 ]

The entire body of “Rethinking the Relationship between Actors and Society in Herbert Blumer’s Symbolic Interactionism,” submitted to the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the Graduate School of Tohoku University, as the author’s master’s thesis.

 

About (4) “Master’s Thesis Abstract” - Quoted from the periodical: Tohoku University Department of Sociology, 1996, Societas, Vol. 15: 72-75 [ http://hdl.handle.net/10232/7917 ][14]

　Cf. Tsukasa Kuwabara. Revised Edition of the Summary of My Master's Thesis. Yahoo! Japan Sites. 2016-06-12. URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20141207044801/http://www.geocities.jp/ptk20120118/2006-02a.jpg. Accessed: 2016-06-12. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/6iE1cTeRT ).

 

About (5) “Doctoral Thesis” [ http://warp.da.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/3492948/ecowww.leh.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/staff/kuwabara/doctor.htm ]

The entire body of Sociology of Social Processes (http://warp.da.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/257958/www.sal.tohoku.ac.jp/guide/grad2000/pages/p16hakushigo.html), submitted to the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the Graduate School of Tohoku University in March 2000, after completing the coursework of, but not obtaining the degree in its doctorate program in March 1999.[15] This paper is also published as the following. Tsukasa Kuwabara, 2000, The Sociology of Social Processes, Kwansei Gakuin University Press BookPark. Currently these pages are linked to the following sites.

“Sunday Sociology” = https://web.archive.org/web/20080109133027/http://socio-logic.jp/list/weblist02.html

“Electronic Bibliography of Sociological Works” = https://web.archive.org/web/20040404025553/http://risya3.hus.osaka-u.ac.jp/Papers/

 

About (6) “Doctoral Thesis Abstract”  [ http://megalodon.jp/2016-0611-1123-31/ecowww.leh.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/staff/kuwabara/summary.htm ]

The contents of this page are “Thesis Abstract” and “Thesis Examination Result Abstract” with slight revisions to the former paper, both of which are on pages 248–259 of a booklet called Doctoral Thesis Abstracts and Examination Result Abstracts, Faculty of Letters, Volume 11th (Conferred in 1999).[16] The contents on this page are also published as the following: Tsukasa Kuwabara, 2000, Introduction to a sociological perspective of Symbolic Interactionism(3)(The Summary of a doctoral dissertation, Tohoku University), Journal of Economics and Sociology, Kagoshima University, No. 54: 69-86.

 

About (7) “The First Chicago School of Sociology and Blumer’s Symbolic Interactionism” [ http://megalodon.jp/2016-0611-1126-44/ecowww.leh.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/staff/kuwabara/Blumer-as-CS.htm ]

Aside from publishing the Journal of Economics and Sociology, Kagoshima University, the Department of Economics, Faculty of Law, Economics and Humanities has a program that releases research results in Discussions Papers In Economics and Sociology. My manuscript is on this page, published through this program. Tsukasa Kuwabara, 2002, The First Chicago School of Sociology and Blumer’s Symbolic Interactionism, Discussion Papers In Economics and Sociology, No.0203, The Economic Society of Kagoshima University.

 

About (8) “The Social Nature of Self”[17] and (9) “Interaction and Mutual Consent”[18]

Both are articles that have been contributed to the two textbooks. The first one is included in Social Psychology of Ego and Self, edited by Mamoru Funatsu and Kiyoshi Ando, published in 2002 by Hokuju Publishing. The latter is included in Social Psychology of Interaction (edited by Isamu Ito and Naohito Tokugawa, Hokuju Publishing, 2002). Both of which have been revised and posted online.

 

 

 

 

Editor's note[19]

Not long ago, I made the big mistake of writing the wrong title on my manuscript. I titled the manuscript ‘Introduction to a sociological perspective of Symbolic Interactionism (3): The summary of a doctoral dissertation, Tohoku University’ instead of the correct title ‘The summary of a doctoral dissertation, Tohoku University: Introduction to a sociological perspective of Symbolic Interactionism (3)’ (refer to the headers of the odd-numbered pages of Journal of Economics and Sociology, Kagoshima University, No. 54 [pp. 83, 81, 79, 77, 75, 73, 71[20]]).[21] While this type of mistake would have been unthinkable when papers were hand written, it now results from frequent use of the ‘cut-and-paste’ tool in a word processor. However, now that word processors are becoming increasingly popular, should we not try to be more sensitive towards language than ever before? This is what I have started thinking lately. (Tsukasa Kuwabara, Faculty of Law, Economics and Humanities)　

 

 

 

 

 

 


[1] https://web.archive.org/web/*/http:/www.cc.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/about/information/ccc_kouhou_2003_no16.html

[2] This article is the English translation of the following paper: Kuwabara (2003) [= http://hdl.handle.net/10232/4198 ].

[3] T. Kuwabara. Web Archiving Project. 【http://gyo.tc/ubnd】. 2016-06-12. URL: https://sites.google.com/site/tsukasakuwabara1970/home/links/web-archivig-project. Accessed: 2016-06-12. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/6iDv1K7Y2 ).

[4] http://gyo.tc/19o5K

[5] Soon after the publication of Journal of Economics and Sociology, Kagoshima University, No. 54 [ http://ci.nii.ac.jp/vol_issue/nels/AN00070433/ISS0000339291_ja.html ].

[6] https://web.archive.org/web/20030422190203/http://www.wakhok.ac.jp/~harie/kisokenlist.html

[7] https://web.archive.org/web/20030501180940/http://thought.ne.jp/luhmann/list/weblist03.html

[8] https://web.archive.org/web/20030401233605/http://risya3.hus.osaka-u.ac.jp/Links/bib.html

[9] https://web.archive.org/web/20021021185248/http://isweb43.infoseek.co.jp/school/taka-y02/

[10] https://web.archive.org/web/20021022054354/http://www.geocities.co.jp/WallStreet/4716/index.html

[11] https://web.archive.org/web/20011129085416/http://www.geocities.co.jp/WallStreet/4716/symblicinteraction.htm

[12] http://www.webcitation.org/6UGvtpndL

[13] https://archive.is/XuD0r#selection-865.0-871.28

[14] http://www.webcitation.org/6iE9YMIzZ

[15] https://archive.is/cVsT7#selection-311.62-311.97

[16] https://web.archive.org/web/20160613042112/http://megalodon.jp/2016-0613-1320-47/www.geocities.jp/ptk20120118/20160604/2006-03a.jpg

[17] http://web.archive.org/web/20150711080606/http://www.geocities.jp/ptk20120118/Lecture-research/Socialself.htm

[18] http://www.webcitation.org/6iE8obYd3

[19] This article is the English translation of the following paper: Kuwabara et al. (2003) [= http://hdl.handle.net/10232/6939 ].

[20] https://archive.is/LTBTG#selection-369.0-369.75

[21] https://archive.is/hDj6w#selection-285.0-285.65