mini传媒

Published on July 3, 2023
Job titles and other details are as of the time of publication.
(The interview was conducted in Japanese and was thereafter translated into English.)

Writing papers on themes in environmental sociology and political sociology with a “pencil” called social network analysis

My main research fields are environmental sociology, political sociology, and social network analysis. Among them, social network analysis is akin to the “pencil” that I always carry with me, and I use this “pencil” to write papers on various themes in environmental sociology and political sociology.

The themes I research using this tool include the following:

(1) Japan’s climate change policymaking process and comparative studies with other countries

Japan's climate change policy is developed through a tug-of-war process among the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and the Ministry of Environment. I am currently conducting a comparative study to identify how Japan’s policy differs from other countries.

(2) Development of social movements after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

I have been analyzing how citizens' groups, mainly anti-nuclear power plant groups, shared information, built cooperative relationships, and developed into large-scale social movements after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.

(3) Computer simulation of the process of power distribution

Using a network model, I simulate the process of alleviating inequality in power distribution, through which individuals who respect the same person in power accept differences of opinions among them and collaborate with each other at the local level.

It may be surprising to learn, but universities offering social network analysis courses are rare in Japan. I learned this research technique in this area through studying in Germany, the United States, and Finland. I hope that many more students will study social network analysis and acquire the technique as a useful tool for properly describing and modeling what they wonder about. As part of this effort, my seminar in AY2021 conducted the “Survey on College Students' Relationships with Their Friends and Their Lives in the COVID-19 Situation,” targeting Hitotsubashi University undergraduate and graduate students. The results proved thought-provoking, which I will describe at the end.

Where do struggles with living come from?

How did I become interested in social science? There are several factors, but my oldest memory is from my elementary school days when I was bullied as a fifth or sixth grader by my classmates. I was able to socialize with them on a one-on-one basis, but my relationship changed when they got together as a “class.” I was hurt, of course, but, at the same time, I “wondered” why this unique process occurred when people came together in a group. Later in junior high school, I was placed at the bottom of the hierarchy in a club, and became interested in the connection between the group and struggles with living.

Coincidentally, people involved in the lawsuit regarding HIV-contaminated drug products on the plaintiffs’ side were living in the same apartment complex where I lived at the time. This probably had an influence on me as well. As an elementary school pupil, I was brought up in an environment where I could feel close to activities “to somehow change the current system,” witnessing the entire community, including myself, my parents, classmates and their families, and teachers, supporting the plaintiffs.

When I studied politics and economics in social studies at high school, I became interested in the “movements of people” leading up to the formation of a new system, rather than how a system should be at the macro level. My social studies teacher told me of a discipline called Sociology, so I enrolled at Hitotsubashi University with an interest in how existing systems are formed, what problems and side effects they create, and how they should be changed.

Pursuing my career as a researcher to study what I “wonder” at my own pace

I decided to pursue a career as a researcher when spending the summer in my junior year studying in Germany. It was my first experience living abroad, and I was prepared to face a lot of hardships, but it turned out to be quite manageable. I had no difficulties getting to the university by train and attending classes as long as I read the materials beforehand. All aspects of life, including social structures, should have been different between Japan and Germany, but to some extent, I felt as if I were still in Japan. It was a strange experience. It was the first time that I understood firsthand that social systems are universal, and I gradually came to think that it might be interesting to study the similarities and differences between Japanese and German social systems.

The study abroad experience caused me to miss the job hunting season in Japan. This is another reason I chose a career as a researcher. At that time, the job hunting schedule was fixed for college students. Studying abroad for a year from the summer of my junior year, I was not exposed to the pressure of finding a job. At the end of the day, I found myself aiming to become a researcher.

Focus more on drawing conclusions from questions than trying to solve problems

I mentioned my research fields and themes at the beginning. Students participating in my classes and seminars do not have to be interested in the same fields or themes. I ask them to delve into their own interests. Whatever the subjects of their interests are, I believe it important for them to refer to their own lives when examining their research results.

First of all, as the basis of social research, students conduct their own research, collect and analyze data in an appropriate manner, and compile the results in a well-reasoned paper. The basic premise of social research is to report “findings” and “social realities,” but what I emphasize is going one step further, that is, considering “why things are the way they are” and “how we can make society better” based on the questions raised. After examining what is happening in the field and understanding the logic of the system, students discuss their findings in light of their own “struggles with living.” I want students to develop such an attitude in my classes and seminars.

This attitude is different from so-called problem-solving thinking. There are only a handful of solutions that individuals can carry out when addressing problems. For example, a solution presenting itself when I was bullied in elementary school would probably not have helped me. Rather, if you know the story of how things happen, which comes before any solution, it can make your life easier at that point in time. I value the perspective that, in human history, we have always found stories to reach compromises with situations beyond our control. This may seem to contradict the message that “I focus on what is one step ahead of my research findings,” but I believe that a story can be made only if we take an issue personally.

A survey provided a story to Hitotsubashi University students struggling in the COVID-19 situation

It is the above-mentioned “Survey on College Students' Relationships with Their Friends and Their Lives in the COVID-19 Situation” that helped me realize the significance of finding a story. The survey was conducted on undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in Hitotsubashi University for one month from September 22, 2021, and a total of 516 students responded online or on paper.

The conclusion was simple: “In the COVID-19 situation, the friendship network of Hitotsubashi University students changed to an individual-based one in which their friends are not friends with each other.” When you can communicate with friends in person, A's friends B and C are more likely to become friends as well. The relationship between A, B, and C is called as a “triadic closure” in social network analysis terms. In the COVID-19 situation, however, even when A and B are friends and A and C are also friends, B and C are unlikely to become friends. In other words, they remain individual-based (dyadic) relationships.

When triadic closure cannot be established, individuals easily become psychologically trapped and unable to resolve problems collectively. In open answers, many respondents answered, “I felt relieved by responding to this survey.” As the undergraduate and graduate students completed the survey, they had a sense of “what was going on with them”. This is the significance of finding a story. The results were thought-provoking, and the survey proved meaningful to students feeling frustrated and anxious at the time.

To think about “two-path relationships and beyond” is to think about the social structure

Such a difference in relationships can be understood as one-path/two-path relationships. It is not too difficult to understand what you and another person are doing together, which is the scope of a one-path relationship. It is quite difficult, however, to understand what someone with whom you are connected is doing with other people, or to understand the scope of two-path relationships and beyond that you do not know directly. In the COVID-19 situation, this difficulty became more pronounced.

Social network analysis employs surveys to reveal the trends of two-path relationships and beyond, which we find interesting. More specifically, I believe that to think about “two-path relationships and beyond” is to think about the system, namely the social structure.