Research on the Dynamics of Farmers' Social Consciousness and Rural Life

本研究旨在揭示稻农社会意识与日本快速变化的农村和农业环境之间的动态关系。为此，我们在福井县和山形县进行了实地调查。(1)以福井县为例，我们回顾了过去30年来水稻种植和非农业劳动的趋势。通过回顾，我们发现了兼职家庭农业的积极和消极的一面。(2)以山形为例，我们对不同类型的稻农进行了密集的访谈，以了解他们对耕作、非农工作、家庭生活和农业政策的态度的当代特征。最显著的一点是，他们对农业和家庭生活意义的自我反思使他们对农业的态度发生了相应的变化。(3)在本次调查中，我们充分运用了芝加哥社会学和符号互动主义的理论和方法。

The purpose of this research is to reveal the dynamic relationship between the rice farmers' social consciousness and the rapidly changing processes of rural and agricultural environments of Japan. For this purpose we have conducted the field surveys in Fukui and Yamagata Prefectures.(1) In the case of Fukui we have reviewed the trends of rice farming and off-farm working during the last three decades. Through this review we have found the positive sides of part-time family farming as well as the negative ones.(2) In the case of Yamagata we have made the intensive interviews with the various types of rice farmers to find the contemporary characteristics of their attitudes toward farming, off-farm working, family life, and agricultural policies. The most remarkable point is that they have differentiated their attitudes toward farming corresponding to their self-reflections on the significance of agriculture and family life.(3) In the these survey we have made good use of the theories and methods of Chicago Sociology and Symbolic Interactionism.