抄録

　本稿の目的は,東京大学社会科学研究所の共同研究プロジェクトである「希望の社会科学的研究」(通称「希望学」,研究代表者・玄田有史)の一環として,2006年度に実施された希望学・釜石調査の目的と方法,調査概要を紹介し,現時点での調査結果と今後の課題を明示することにある.そのことを通して,同調査の記録を残すとともに,最終的な成果取りまとめの素材としたい.今回の釜石調査では,「希望」をキーワードとして過去から現在にいたる釜石地域の歩みを検討した結果,(1)ローカル・アイデンティティの再編,(2)希望の共有,(3)ネットワーク形成といった点が,「地方の希望」を考える際に重要な論点となり得ることがわかってきた.社会・経済状況の大きな変化に応じて地域再生をはかるにはローカル・アイデンティティの再編が不可欠であり,そのためには地域社会における希望(将来構想)の共有と希望の基盤としてのネットワーク形成が必要になるのではないか.今後はこうした仮説を,社会科学の様々な領域で検証していくことが課題となる.

abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the research on the Kamaishi region in 2006, investigated by the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo. The research is part of the 'Social Sciences of Hope'project which is one of the research projects at ISS. Through this work, I intend to gain some insight into the history and the present situation of this old company town. One of the special features of this research project is that a variety of researchers from different disciplines, applying their own research methods, are working together to analyze the "social phases of hope" in one particular region with a common aim to understand the social meanings of hope both historically and contemporarily. Starting from this point, we have decided to focus on the following two research problems: 1) an inquiry into the changes in hope among various socioeconomic strata due to the long-term process of restructuring of the core industry (i.e. the Kamaishi Steel Works, Nippon Steel Co.), and 2) a multifarious examination of "the rebirth of hope" in a company town such as Kamaishi, undergoing changes in the local society and economy. Based on this, we (a total of 32 social scientists divided into the five research groups) met twice in 2006 (July and September) to discuss and conduct our research on the Kamaishi region. In this paper, I introduce the contents of this research and its implications.