著者

石田 淳

出版者

社会学研究会

雑誌

ソシオロジ (ISSN:05841380)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, no.1, pp.3-19,100, 2007

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In this article, I would like to propose a new perspective in studies of the cognitive process of social categories, and then analyze the cognition of one particular social category, "Japanese," by applying that perspective. Social categories are socially constructed cognitive frameworks for identifying others (including observers themselves) and classifying them into social groups. Social categories are, as it were, "ethno methods" in the sense that we implicitly share them and use them to identify others in everyday life. However, there has been little use of rigorous analytical methods for understanding social categories. The cognitive process of social categories can be regarded as the process of reduction of information as to others. In this article, I will suggest that the cognitive process of social categories can be well described by Boolean analysis as the process of reduction of information. I will analyze the difference and distribution among people of the cognition of a social category, "Japanese." Of course, there is a legal definition of Japanese, that is, Japanese are people having Japanese nationality. However, there seems to be a gray zone in distinguishing between Japanese and non-Japanese at the cognitive level in everyday life. For example, are naturalized immigrants regarded as Japanese? How about non Japanese speakers? The question then becomes: what kind of person has what kind of definition of "Japanese," that is, cognition of "Japanese"? To answer this question, I will use Boolean analysis to analyze a data set taken from an exploratory survey of images of "Japanese."