Sociology of Culture

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Research Topics
■ Social history of medicine; social research on technology and media; the sociology of labor issues, theory of division of labor, and everyday life

　We approach the relationship between technology and society/culture from social-historical and sociological perspectives. Although the faculty member’s area of specialization is in medicine, the research interests of our graduate students cut across many fields including media, tourism, and medicine. We primarily use qualitative methods such as archival research, interviews, and field research, but we are also exploring quantitative research analysis using text mining and survey research (Professor Yamanaka).

　Our research adopts a multidimensional approach combining several diverse perspectives to tackle various communication phenomena and their changes in contemporary society. In terms of theories, we attempt sociological development and the application of pragmatics and philosophy of language. Empirically, we mainly employ quantitative research methods to probe the present state of communication (Professor Tsuji).

　We examine various everyday social phenomena such as the globalization of eating and education and the commodity chain of forest products. We use these micro-level perspectives to consider macro-level questions such as the relation between power and competition (Professor Ishikawa).

Staff

• Professor
  Yamanaka Hiroshi
• Professor
  Tsuji Daisuke
• Associate Professor
  Mitani Haruyo
• Professor (Concurrently)
  Ishikawa Mayumi 【Concurrent Staff】