著者

ノッター デビット

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.49, no.1, pp.39-54,188, 2004-05-31 (Released:2016-05-25)

参考文献数

38

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In this paper I argue that Durkheim's theory of the sacred and profane offers a theoretical perspective from which to grasp the unique dynamics involved in the interplay between romantic love in the Victorian period and Victorian culture.Durkheim's later theory is particularly apt for exploring the sociological dimensions of emotional phenomena, and I argue that its focus on the "religious" elements of social life such as beliefs and rites makes it viable as a framework from which to understand romantic love as an historically distinct phenomenon. While the "modern cult of individual love" has previously been analyzed in terms of Durkheim's ritual theory by Randall Collins, I argue that Collins's understanding of romantic love lacks an historical perspective, and that while his theory is valuable in its explanation of the significance of courting rituals , thus incorporating Durkheim's assertion about the importance of "rites," it fails to incorporate Durkheim's emphasis on the importance of "beliefs" and symbols. As a case study aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of Durkheim's later theory in illuminating the nature of romantic love in the nineteenth century, I sketch the nature of both the beliefs and rites that made up the "religion" of romantic love in Victorian-period America. I then analyze the role of romantic love in the formation of the Victorian-period ideology of sexual purity in light of Durkheim's theory of the dual nature of the sacred as well as anthropological research on purity and pollution. I argue that the sacralization of romantic love brought about the coding of sex as a radically impure and polluting (profaning) force, and that the resulting need to purify sex led to the ritualization of sexual expression in marriage. This argument follows Foucault in rejecting the "repressive hypothesis" which characterizes so much theorizing about Victorian-period sexuality, but attributes the newfound preoccupation with sexuality in this period not to notions of "power/knowledge" but; rather to the symbolic power of the sacred and the equally powerful symbolic polluting force of the profane, resulting in an emphasis on extreme sexual purity outside of ritualized contexts.

著者

ノッター デビット

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.45, no.3, pp.53-68,151, 2001-02-28 (Released:2016-11-02)

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In this paper I examine the discourses relating to the "love marriage" and courtship in the women's periodicals Fujin Koron (Women's Central Review) and Shufu no Tomo (Housewife's Friend) over a period of roughly ten years, from the inception of the periodicals in 1916 and 1917, respectively, until 1926, the last year of the Taisho period. As an analytical tool, I have adopted the concept of "acceptability" developed by Jean Pierre Faye, a theorist whose work is informed by a view of language as a socially and historically situated phenomenon. Faye is concerned with the processes whereby a narrative is rendered socially acceptable, and since this is contingent upon key words and expressions, Faye focuses on the way these expressions undergo complex transformations, a process I have termed "semantic transformation." I have examined the expressions "ren'ai kekkon" or "love marriage," and "danjokosai," a term which translates literally into "association of men and women" and whose meaning has shifted over time. I claim that the term "ren'ai kekkon," or "love marriage," shifts from signifying a congenial relation between spouses to meaning a marriage based on romantic love and free choice of partner. Ironically, since the "loveconquers-all" discourse, which gains momentum in the early 1920s, was saturated with the notion of sexual purity, this precluded talk of "danjokosai" as courtship, considered dangerous, but I argue that this inconsistency in the discourse is absorbed by the multiplicity of meanings for the term "danjokosai." I also argue that key words found in this discourse such as "junketsu" (purity) , and "jinkaku" (personality/character), had a special appeal for the newly educated women of the new middle class, an affinity which helped render the discourse acceptable.