著者

田 恩伊

出版者

SHAKAIGAKU KENKYUKAI

雑誌

ソシオロジ (ISSN:05841380)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.55, no.3, pp.19-36,129, 2011

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The objective of this paper is to study intentional communities from asocially composed point of view by considering their contemporary significance and searching for new movement towards their reinterpretation. "Intentional community" is an inclusive term for alternative and utopian living groups intentionally formed as small groups to share a common place and a common vision. Moreover, regarding intentional communities (hereinafter referred to as ICs) (hereinafter referred to as ICs) in Japan, analyses were made based on fieldwork that was carried out in more than seven Japanese communities from 2006 to 2009; research references and secondary data from the 1960s and 1970s; interviews with people and members who had aleading role in the community movement; and other sources. In this paper the following is mainly studied: First of all, this study accepts the traditional interpretation of sociology concerning communities and their sociological contributions. Despite these predefined boundaries, a new theory was developed to gain a better perspective and to view such communities as something that can be constructed or created. To achieve this objective, some recently presented theories on communities are reviewed. Secondly, this study focuses on clarifying some commonly accepted concepts and historical views of ICs because there has been no previous research, nor academic articles, on ICs in Japan. Moreover, it was found from the collected secondary data that the term "Intentional Community" was already being used by Japanese community movement groups in the 1970s from the collected secondary data. Thirdly, this study was carried out to compare the current trends of ICs in Japan after the 1990s with communities that have existed since the 1960s. Close attention is also paid to the changes in the economic system of communities and communal meals, and how the new types of intimate sphere were expanded to the subsequent creation of communities as the public place. Lastly, this study suggests new directions for the development of research on communities based on the information illustrated in this paper, such as cooperation between ICs and the mainstream, an inclination toward ecology, diversification of the structure and form of community, and reconstruction of the new intimate sphere leading to the public sphere.