Researchers Database

Masashi Takai

    Department of Media and Communications Professor
    Course of Sociology Professor
Last Updated :2025/10/22

Researcher Information

J-Global ID

Research Areas

  • Humanities & social sciences / Sociology

Published Papers

Books etc

MISC

Research Grants & Projects

  • 日本学術振興会:科学研究費助成事業
    Date (from‐to) : 2022/04 -2027/03 
    Author : 福間 良明; 日高 勝之; 前田 至剛; 森下 達; 井上 義和; 高井 昌吏; 小川 実紗; 野上 元; 白戸 智子; 山本 昭宏; 佐藤 彰宣; 谷本 奈穂; 水出 幸輝
     
    従来のメディア文化研究・ポピュラー文化研究では、総じて「若者メディア文化」に焦点が当てられてきた。だが、そのゆえに、以下の2点が不問に付されてきた。 ① 中年文化の変容プロセスと戦後の社会構造(格差・労働・福祉など):従来のメディア研究では、社会の中堅たる中年層のメディア文化が見落とされてきた。ビジネス雑誌史や時代劇ドラマ史の研究が進展しないことは、そのあらわれである。そのことは、中年層が直面した戦後の社会構造の変容(労働、家族、格差、福祉、新自由主義など)とメディア文化の入り組んだ関係性が見過ごされることにつながっている。 ②「かつての若者文化」の遅滞:人々が若者から中年へと年齢を重ねる中、「『かつての若者文化』がいかに後の時代に受け継がれたのか(変容したのか)」も、これまで見落とされてきた。若者文化は「同時代の若者」のみが享受したのではない。中年層は、若い頃に触れた文化的嗜好や価値観を引きずりながら、中年期を過ごしたはずだが、その実相や社会背景は検討されなかった。 以上の研究の欠落を埋めるべく、本研究は、中年層に多く受容されたメディア文化(「中年文化」)とその変容を明らかにし、ともすれば若者層のみに焦点を当てがちな文化研究の方法論や視角を刷新したい。 こうした研究目的のもと、2023年度は前年度に引き続き、基礎資料の収集と分析経過の報告・討議に重点を置いた。共同研究者による研究会は2回(7/8,3/14)実施した。1回あたり3名ほどの発表(計5~6時間)であり、そのなかで、資料収集・分析の経過報告を行い、そのうえで、研究の問いや分析軸の擦り合わせや再検討を行った。具体的には、中年サラリーマン層の娯楽文化・メディア文化のほか、メディアでの「中年」をめぐる言説変容やそのジェンダーポリティクスについて、検討を行った。
  • 日本学術振興会:科学研究費助成事業
    Date (from‐to) : 2022/04 -2027/03 
    Author : 福間 良明; 日高 勝之; 前田 至剛; 森下 達; 井上 義和; 高井 昌吏; 野上 元; 白戸 智子; 山本 昭宏; 佐藤 彰宣; 谷本 奈穂; 水出 幸輝; 小川 実紗
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
    Date (from‐to) : 2017/04 -2021/03 
    Author : FUKUMA Yoshiaki
     
    This study examines the mass media culture of the "1950s" (mid-1970s to mid-1980s) and how the culture of the "political season" ("student movement culture", "admire for liberal arts", "memory of war"). We examined the process of the transformation and examined the cultural transformation from the "political season" to the "bubble culture" from a historical sociological point of view. Specifically, while dealing with movies, TV dramas, magazines, anime, manga, historical novels, etc. of the same period, "political season", "memory of war", and "admire for liberal arts" are projected onto media culture with any deviation. We analyzed whether it was done or how the aversion to "post-war" values was factored in.
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
    Date (from‐to) : 2013/04 -2016/03 
    Author : TAKAI Masashi
     
    In the pre-war period, volleyball spread as a recreational sport for female factory workers. Volleyball was introduced as a suitable exercise and for increasing the production efficiency of women workers and it was considered a “sport suited to women” in Japan. However, the Kure navy yard volleyball team created a volleyball culture that had a “manly” fighting spirit, and was successful in national competitions. On the other hand, the prosperity of the “manly” volleyball culture had a parallel relationship with the “sluggishness of the labor movement” in the Kure navy arsenal. In other words, there was coexistence of a “manly” sports culture and dominant class and a submissive worker class culture.
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
    Date (from‐to) : 2012/04 -2015/03 
    Author : FUKUMA Yoshiaki; YAMAGUCHI Makoto; INOUE Yoshikazu; YAMAMOTO Akihiro; SHIRATO Kenichiro; KWON Hakjun; TAKAI Masashi; YOSHIMURA Kazuma; MATSUNAGA Tomoko
     
    The purpose of this study is to analyze the historical process of constructing the place of war memory. In postwar Japan, various places of war memory were “invented”. We focused on these process and analyzed the social background of them from the view point of media history and historical sociology. The main result of our study is our coauthor book The Birth of “Chiran” (published on June, 2015).
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
    Date (from‐to) : 2008 -2010 
    Author : TAKAI Masashi; TANIMOTO Naho; ISHIDA Ayuu; SAKATA Kenji; FUKUMA Yosiaki; MURASE Keiko
     
    We studied representation of the war that was made as an image in popular culture, from a viewpoint of the gender. For example, a many war images are made by some movies ("OTOKOTATINOYAMATO" or "RENGOKANTAI" etc) and tourism (CHIRAN or "YAMATO-MUSEUM" etc), or a lot of plastic models. Femininity or childishness is related with children's books or cartoon film works ("HOTARUNOHAKA" or "GARASUNOUSAGI" etc). Each war (Okinawa war, an atom bomb or an air raid, etc) were accepted in society by many kinds of media. Having taken the above into account, we paid attention to popular culture which spread representation of the war. Furthermore, we clarified a war image constructed transversely by media.
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
    Date (from‐to) : 2005 -2006 
    Author : NISHIYAMA Tetsuo; TANIMOTO Naho; SEKI Yoshihiro; TAKAI Masashi
     
    The purpose of this research is to bring the emergent construction mode of gender identity in present age Japan into relief. In a conventional research, gender identity is explained from "Social consciousness" or analyzed from "Power relation in communications". However, the agency of the body, popularly tending to be seen as the constant of invariability, was paid to attention in this research. The axes of our research technique are (1) analysis of articles in popular magazine, (2) interview to fitness club participants and (3) hearing from specialist of body practice like fitness instructor and cosmetic surgery medicine. At the first year, it went around the comparison investigation of Germany and South Korea. The focus was applied to investigation of actual conditions in Japan during the second year. Having been confirmed from these investigations was the following if it said roughly. (1) A modern gender identity construction style heads for the direction where man and woman's character difference is not emphasized by taking a scientific body management method in the area related to the body. (2) Recently, the body image assumed to be an ideal in both gender is settling as a finding of the analysis of the article in a fitness magazine compared with 20 years ago. (3) "Neat paranoiac" concerning the obedience to the rule was seen by the fitness club participant, and the relation to the peculiar, "disciplined", body consideration of them was seen. (4) However, the person who made efforts to the exchange with others (especially, instructor) stood out in the fitness club in Japan, by compared with Germany where only the person who exclusively concentrate on own body.
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