Social movements as networks of meanings: constructing a mental map of the 2012 antinuclear movement campaign in Japan

Автор: Nomiya Daishiro, Sugino Isamu, Murase Risa

Журнал: Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast @volnc-esc-en

Рубрика: Foreign experience

Статья в выпуске: 5 (65) т.12, 2019 года.

Бесплатный доступ

Social movement is a battlefield of meanings; a movement campaign contains a cluster of diverse meanings given by those participating in the campaign. Stimulated by such theoretical concepts as “network of meanings”, scholars have attempted to seize the collective meaning attribution process and resultant meaning clusters, as well as central/dominant and peripheral meanings in social movement campaigns. However, such a meaning cluster in the actual movement campaign has never been captured to date. This paper is an attempt to draw what we call “mental map,” mapping a cluster of meanings the movement campaign accommodates. Employing network analysis technique, we draw a network graph showing a cluster of meanings present in the movement campaign. We used the 2012 anti-nuclear movement campaign in Japan as a research site where we collected empirical data. The analysis of the 2012 network graph clearly showed central meanings considered to dominate the signification process of the 2012 campaign and a cluster of meanings that constituted a subset in the entire web of meanings. To ensure the capability of our research technique to differentiate meaning clusters from one movement campaign to another, we compared the 2012 campaign against the 1954 campaign. The differences were stark: the 2012 campaign was strongly driven by motherhood mentality to protect children and a concern over local environments, while the 1954 campaign dominantly drew its signification from collective memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and risk on food safety. The mental map approach can help us understand “why” of the movement campaign from yet another perspective; it can also assist us in understanding the change in the mentality and meaning attribution processes of social movements, as, given the data exist, it can be applied to the past campaigns.

Еще

Mental map, social movement, social movement campaign, meaning, network analysis, network of meanings, japan

Короткий адрес: https://sciup.org/147224212

IDR: 147224212   |   DOI: 10.15838/esc.2019.5.65.11

Текст научной статьи Social movements as networks of meanings: constructing a mental map of the 2012 antinuclear movement campaign in Japan

On March 11, 2011, a big earthquake and a subsequent tsunami struck Japan. The gigantic tsunami, sweeping away towns and villages and claiming the life of some twenty thousands in the northern pacific coastal regions of the main island, paralyzed the function of the nuclear power plants in Fukushima. Then in the afternoon next day, one nuclear power plant exploded, followed by further explosions of two other plants, causing the Japanese government to give a quick evacuation order to the residents living within a 20 kilometer radius from the nuclear plant site.

This nuclear power plant explosion and its aftermath, now collectively called “3.11,” incited numerous actions. On March 27, more than a thousand protesters took to the street in Tokyo, forming a first antinuclear demonstration since 3.11. On April 3, another demonstration took place in Kyoto with some 500 participants, according to the Asahi Newspaper on April 4. Since then, the entire Japan became caught up in a series of antinuclear campaigns.

By mid-April, antinuclear campaigns became widespread. A series of antinuclear demonstrations, talks, teach-ins, and forums were organized consecutively in numerous locations in Japan. Large campaign events were also organized. On June 11, a huge national campaign was orchestrated, with more than three thousands of civil organizations actively participating in the activities that covered the entire Japan. Another big event was organized on September 11. Again in some forty different locations, Japan was covered with the voice of denuclearization claims.

Seldom in recent history have Japanese people witnessed the protest action that has continued for such a long period of time. For the first six months, protest actions, campaigns and events, including talks and forums, were organized almost incessantly in various parts of Japan. In the Japanese denuclearization event calendar [3], of the ninety days during the period of May 1 to August 31, 2011, almost all are the days with multiple campaigns occurring somewhere in Japan.

Prompted by the resurgence of the antinuclear movement, studies have been published to inquire into the nature of post-3.11 protest actions with diverse concerns, such as environmental risks, food safety, community reconstruction, and protection of human life. Throughout these studies, one feature stands out as distinctive; they mainly rely on objectively observable events and factual information to grasp the nature of the movement. They emphasize measureable facts and observable aspects, together with other morphological features of the movement, as important references to their understanding. Thus one study depicts a large volume of participation and higher rates in the involvement of the young and inexperienced as a decisive feature of today’s antinuclear movements [4].

Morphological understanding based on aspects observable from the outside can reveal important features of civil activities, and thus is an indispensable part of an effort to understand today’s antinuclear movements. Yet, this approach, unless exercised with great care, could be misleading. Specifically, it runs the risk of lumping together mutually discrete movement campaigns. In an effort to grasp the nature of the anti-Iraq war movement in 2002–2004, for example, observers pointed out that a great magnitude of participation and involvement of the young and inexperienced had been important features of the campaign [5]. Such a characterization leaves us little with which to decipher the anti-Iraq war movement a decade ago and today’s antinuclear movement in Japan.

Antinuclear movement in present Japan needs to be understood in its own right. To attain this goal, cultural approach offers a viable route for alternative understanding. Cultural approach is context-driven; it emphasizes traditions, ways of life, thoughts and perceptions, and other properties residing in the minds of people in a specific cultural milieu. It provides us with a tool with which to probe deep into the subtleties, and this should lead us to an enriched understanding of the movement action.

Список литературы Social movements as networks of meanings: constructing a mental map of the 2012 antinuclear movement campaign in Japan

  • Melucci A. Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual Needs in Contemporary Society. Ed. by J. Keane, P. Mier. London: Hutchinson Radius, 1989.
  • Melucci A. The process of collective identity. In: Johnston H., Klandermans B. (Eds.). Social Movements and Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995. Pp. 41-63.
  • Denuclearization Event Information. 2011 Event Calendar. Available at: http://datugeninfo.web.fc2.com/ (accessed 26 September 2011).
  • Hirabayashi Y. Antinuclear demonstrations and the young. People's Plan, 2012, no. 58, pp. 65-70.
  • Yamamoto H., Katano Y., Kanaya M., Tamaki E., Nomiya D. Citizen's battle: an image of Japanese society in the 2003 peace protest survey. Sophia, 2004, no. 52, pp. 65-90.
  • Suga H. History of the Ideas of the Antinuclear: From the Cold War to Fukushima. Chikuma Selected Books Series. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 2012.
  • Kawamura M. The Nulclear Power Plant and the Nuclear Bomb: Post World War Spiritual History of the Nuclear. Kawade Books Series. Tokyo: Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2011.
  • Snow D.A., Rochford E.B., Jr, Worden S.K., Benford R.D. Frame alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation. American Sociological Review, 1986, Aug., vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 464-481.
  • Snow D.A., Benford R.D. Ideology. Frame resonance, and participant mobilization. International Social Movement Research, 1988, no. 1, pp. 197-217.
  • Polletta F. Culture and its discontents: recent theorizing on the cultural dimensions of protest. Sociological Inquiry, 1997, no. 67, pp. 431-450.
  • Polletta F., Jasper J.M. Collective identity and social movements. Annual Review of Sociology, 2001, no. 27, pp. 283-305.
  • Jasper J.M. The Art of Moral Protest: Culture, Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
  • Jasper J.M. The emotion of protest: affective and reactive emotions in an around social movements. Sociological Forum, 1998, no. 13, pp. 397-424.
  • Johnston H., Klandermans B. Social Movements and Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995.
  • Slater D. Rethinking the specialities of social movements: questions of borders, culture, and politics in global times. In: Alvarez S.E., Dagnino E., Escobar A. (Eds.). Cultures of Politics, Politics of Cultures: Re-visioning Latin American Social Movements. Boulder, Colorado: West View Press, 1998.
  • Sewell W.H. Jr. The concept(s) of culture. In: Bonnel V.E, Hunt L.A., Biernacki R. (Eds.). Beyond the Cultural Turn: New Directions in the Study of Society and Culture. University of California Press, 1999. Pp. 35-61.
  • Bartholomew A., Mayer M. Nomads of the present: Melucci's contribution to ‘New Social Movement' theory. Theory, Culture, and Society, 1992, no. 9, pp. 141-159.
  • Williams R.H., Benford R.D. Two faces of collective action frames: a theoretical consideration. Current Perspectives in Social Theory, 2000, no. 20, pp. 127-151.
  • Nomiya D. Under a global mask: family narratives and local memory in a global social movement in Japan. Societies Without Borders, 2009, no. 4, pp. 117-140.
  • Gamson W. Talking Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
  • Gamson W., Modigliani A. Media discourse and public opinion and nuclear power: a constructionist approach. American Journal of Sociology, 1989, no. 95, pp. 1-37.
  • McAdam D. Culture and social movements. In: Laraña E., Johonston H., Gusfield J.R. (Eds.). New Social Movements: From Ideology to Identity. Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, 1994. Pp. 36-57.
  • Nomiya D. From "Hiroshima" to "Fukushima": meaning transformation of the nuclear. Sophia, 2012, no. 59 (4), pp. 82-98.
  • Nomiya D. Social movement in Japan: split mentalities and memory. In: Farro A., Lustiger-Thaler H. (Eds.). Reimagining Social Movements: From Collectives to Individuals. UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2016. Pp. 81-94.
  • Maruhama E. Birth of Antinuclear/Hydrogen Bomb Movements: Residents' Power and Undercurrent of Suginami Ward, Tokyo. Tokyo: Gaifu-u-sha, 2011.
  • Sasaki-Uemura W. Organizing the Spontaneous: Citizen Protest in Postwar Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001.
  • Shibagaki K. History of Showa Period Vol. 9: From Peace to High Growth. Tokyo: Shogakkan, 1983.
  • Kokuminn no Kai. A Group of National Citizens Who Criticize the Power and Mass Communication Media and Protect Human Rights. Available at: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/uhi36845-002/e/019043f8f72f317980d0c1a853 91a5b7 (accessed 26 September 2011).
  • Diani M., McAdam D. Social Movements and Networks: Relational Approaches to Collective Action. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • Griswold W. A methodological framework for the sociology of culture. Sociological Methodology, 1987, no. 17, pp. 1-35.
  • Diani M. Networks and social movements: a research programme. In: Diani M., McAdam D. (Eds.). Social Movements and Networks: Relational Approaches to Collective Action. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. 299-319.
  • Borgatti S.P., Martin G.E., Jeffrey C.J. Analyzing Social Networks. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage, 2013.
  • Nakamura M., Fujita T., Nagaoka H. Out of order Fukushima anticipated: Fukushima Power Plant no. 1 had been pointed out as having high risk. Newsweek, 2011, no. 26 (13), pp. 28-33.
  • Hida M. Politicians, bureaucrats, and industrial circles have been responsible for the nuclear power plant accident. Interview with Paul Scalise. Economist, 2011, no. 89 (20), p. 38.
Еще
Статья научная