Joy of Life Changes Society

FURIHATA, Hiroaki, "Joy of Life Changes Society: “Slow Life” As Cultural Social Movement"

1. Introduction
Social movements are seemed treated as if heroic and romantic actions of oppressed people to breakdown vicious oppressors. But maybe, this is an image. There is another kind of social movements that constituted in terms of joy of each participant.
Is there any this kind of social movement in current Japanese society? “Slow Life” might be a movement to change society in terms of joy. It constructs new culture, which leads to social change.

2. Definitions
Slow Life: Activities of people to seek for alternative life in terms of “slow”. “Slow life” is gaining popularity since the late 1990s in Japanese society
Culture: A system of symbols and meanings that give profound influence on human behavior (Sewell 1999, p.43)
Social Movement: Collective activities of people with certain continuity for change of society.

3. Approaches to Cultural Social Movement
Three Approaches
a. Weberian Approach
Social movement is driven by culture. Culture influences the features of movement, its participants, purpose, strategy and tactics. (see Einowhner and et al. 2000, pp.682-686).
i.e. Women’s movement is composed by women.
b. Marxist Approach
Social movement organizations contest to take over cultural hegemony of society. (see Laclau and Mouffe 2001, pp.160-164)
i.e. Identity politics to challenge culture of dominant groups
c. Critical Approach
Social movement continuously constructs culture in the process of interactions of participants. People join the movement in the light of their interests rather than enforcement. (see Melucci 1989, pp.25-26)
Limit of Weberian and Marxist approaches
Essentialization of culture
Exclusion of cultural difference
Possibility of Critical approach
Culture has dynamics.
Construction of culture is open process – cultural social movement can be inclusive to difference.

4. Analytical Framework upon Cultural Social Movement

Weberian Marxist Critical
Purpose of Movement Influenced by culture Legitimacy of cultural group Pursue of interests of each participant
Openness Closed Closed Open
Outcome Culturally influenced society Hegemony New Culture

Criteria of Cultural Social Movement in Critical Approach
- Joy for participation (pursue of interests)
- Openness of movement
- Construction of new culture through movement

5. Slow Life
Joy
Participants have joy by practicing slow life.
A woman who lives in 190 year old house in Tokyo
“Maintenance of old house needs amount of time and effort. But, because of this, it is joyous. I would like to use this old and comfortable house for a long time rather than build new one.”

Participants have joy by participating into events concerning to slow life.

Openness
Cross-gender, age, occupational, class, ethnic participation into “slow life”

Construction of new culture
Life style contains “slowness”
i.e.
- Eco-conscious life
- Starting life with agriculture
- Seek for peace as considering war as fast and destructive
- Consciousness to health and food

6. Conclusion: Cultural Change and Social Change
“Slow Life” constructs new culture in terms of joy.
- “Structuration theory”: Change of behavior changes social (political and economic) structures. (Giddens 1986)
Cultural change as construction of new culture through “slow life”  change of behavior of people  social change
- “Field theory”: Society is composed by configuration of various (cultural, political, economic, etc.) fields. Cultural field has relative autonomy to other (including political and economic) fields in society. Hence, change of cultural field influences other fields in society. (Bourdieu 1984)
Change of cultural field through construction of new culture through “slow life”  Influence to other fields in society  social change with change of configuration of these fields.

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