世界ときみは、二本の木が並んで立つように、どちらも寄りかかることなく、それぞれまっすぐに立っている。でも、外に立つ世界とは別に、きみの中にも、一つの世界がある。きみは自分の内部の広大な薄明の世界を想像してみることができる。きみの意識は二つの世界の境界の上にいる。大事なのは、山脈や人や染色工場やセミ時雨などからなる外の世界と、きみの中にある広い世界との間に連絡をつけること、一歩の距離をおいて並び立つ二つの世界の呼応と調和をはかることだ。
−『スティル・ライフ』池澤夏樹 1988年 中央公論社
世界ときみは、二本の木が並んで立つように、どちらも寄りかかることなく、それぞれまっすぐに立っている。でも、外に立つ世界とは別に、きみの中にも、一つの世界がある。きみは自分の内部の広大な薄明の世界を想像してみることができる。きみの意識は二つの世界の境界の上にいる。大事なのは、山脈や人や染色工場やセミ時雨などからなる外の世界と、きみの中にある広い世界との間に連絡をつけること、一歩の距離をおいて並び立つ二つの世界の呼応と調和をはかることだ。
−『スティル・ライフ』池澤夏樹 1988年 中央公論社
人間の自我は彼が所属している集団の態度をとりいれる能力をとおして生じる、ということと、はっきり対照させたかったのである。人間の自我の発生についてなぜそういえるかといえば、人間は、彼が所属する社会をとおして、自分と対話することができ、また、社会にかんする責任を負うことができるからであり、さらに、他人との対比で、自分自身の義務を認識できるからである。そうしたことが、自我そのものを構成する。
The first step is to create a chronology. You will then create an essay based on this. The format of the essay will vary, and you will be referred to some examples later on. In any case, the process of putting the chronology into writing will follow.
You will then be asked to pair up. Pairing is optional, but the participants will interview each other, record it on audio tape, and then transcribe it to summarise how other people’s influences manifested themselves as a result of the interview research.
This timeline and essay will be given to the pair’s partner, who will then prepare questions about the people who have influenced Ms A and those who have influenced her. This will result in an interview about social influences.
What is the social self that we will explore with you? What is the social self like? This is what we are going to do. So, as a theoretical prop, there is a school of thought called Symbolic Interaction. They have proposed a social ego theory of the self.
In this social ego theory, the self, mainly in the left-hand domain, is a term for what is known in English as the ‘principal self’. This term is used by the self to recognise itself. In other words, it is the ‘I’. However, as soon as the self recognises itself, the concept of this subject, the ‘subject-self’, disappears. What remains is the ‘guest-self’, which means that only the side of the observer will remain. Therefore, this concept of ‘subject-self’ and ‘object-self’ is at an uncertain stage, as to what actions the self intends to take, whether its intentions are right or wrong, or whether the intentions themselves exist. This area is treated as a difficult area to understand and is assumed to exist. However, it is this ‘object-self’ stage that we actually consider to be the self, as revealed by social ego theory. Therefore, although the term ego is usually used in psychology as well, the sociological ego consists of a synthesis of the ‘subject-self’ and the ‘object-self’. It is the ‘object-self’ that is represented when describing the actions performed in the self. There is also another element in terms of time. This is the aspect of the self being formed by the influence of others.
It is actually the right half of the project that I would like to focus on in particular in this project. In the left half there are many case studies and psychoanalytic studies, which are mainly concerned with the formation of the self. On the other hand, there is the relationship that the self is formed by the relationship with others. It can be said that the self exists because of the relationship with others. This is the core point of the present study. Regarding the self, the focus has so far been on the left side, where the self is formed by thinking about oneself, while the relationship with others has been less well researched in some areas.
However, in psychoanalysis, the left side is called self-understanding and the right side is called other-understanding. In other words, there is a self that identifies with others and needs to incorporate parts of the self that are in opposition to the problems of the self. Thus, the self in external relations is divided into two elements, which can be either accepting or in conflict with the other. If this division is successfully revealed from the results of the interviews, the first intention has been achieved.
The first phase of the project will proceed with the chronological part on the left-hand side, and after the chronology has been completed, the right-hand side of the interviews will be conducted. This project should allow you to consider the relationship between both of these, which form a holistic picture of the self.
A note is posted on the results of the discussion in March 2023. The project envisages a research period of approximately two years from now, as a rough estimate.
The steps in the research process, as summarised as of August 2022, are posted here. The process has been discussed by the Comparative Regional Studies Group and participants have been recruited. In the first stage, a personal history is prepared. In the second stage, they conduct interviews and ask each other questions to describe parts of their social self. Then, in the third stage, they explore their relationship with society and their future self-image, to see if any elements emerge that are different from their previous selves. The idea is to build up these elements together with you.
このプロジェクトでは、社会的な自分とは何かを追究します。第一段階では自分史を作成します。第二段階ではヒアリング調査を行い、互いに質問をし合って社会的な自己の部分を記述します。そして、第三段階では社会との関係や今後の自己像について、今までの自己とは異なる要素が現れるかどうかを探求します。これらの要素を皆さんと一緒に作り上げていくことを考えています。