“Division” in Keiichi Sakuta’s Works

DOI

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 作田啓一における〝分裂”

Abstract

<p>This paper reassesses the academic works of Keiichi Sakuta (1922-2016) from the viewpoint of the division between the role of the sociologist and the interest in human life inspired by literature. Sakuta’s work is known to be based on his research from the 1960s regarding the sociology of Japanese society and Japanese war crimes, and on Rousseau’s research regarding the “Sociology of Literature,” which is itself based on the literary works of Dostoevsky and Soseki Natsume. Hiroki Okazaki also highlights Sakuta’s consistent “quest for the unreasonable manifestation of human life.” In contrast, this paper focuses on Sakuta the “sociologist.” Sakuta was a university academic from the 1950s to 1995 and was part of the world of sociology. However, from 1960 onwards, he often felt a sense of discomfort about his role as a sociologist. He always felt a “division” within himself. Building on these facts, this paper classifies Sakuta’s works according to his changing viewpoint on society, which can be divided into four periods: first, his “internalized society and sociology” period which lasted until the 1960s; second, his “doubts regarding society and sociology” in the 1970s; third, his “return to society and sociology” which lasted from the 1970s to the 1980s; and fourth, his “questioning of the outside world of society and sociology” from the late 1990s onwards.Previous published works about his life have contended that Sakuta was consistently interested in the human condition. However, as this paper demonstrates, Sakuta also continued to be constrained by the body of knowledge regarding sociology. Certainly, the constraints of contemporary sociology may have been a restraining influence on Sakuta, but it is at least partly because of his violent struggle with the theoretical framework of sociology that he left a legacy of so many valuable works.</p>

Journal

  • SOSHIOROJI

    SOSHIOROJI 64 (2), 3-20, 2019-10-01

    SHAKAIGAKU KENKYUKAI

Details 詳細情報について

  • CRID
    1390573242873516160
  • DOI
    10.14959/soshioroji.64.2_3
  • ISSN
    21889406
    05841380
  • Text Lang
    ja
  • Data Source
    • JaLC
  • Abstract License Flag
    Disallowed

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