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Part Promotion of Scientific Research

Research areas of the humanities and social sciences extend through very wide and diversified fields such as philosophy and psychology which are related mainly with human mental activities, to such fields as economics and politics which are related mainly with the structural aspects of human society. But, the description in this tart will not deal with the trends in such specific fields but with those considered to be common to all the fields in humanities and social sciences. In this sense, the approach taken in this part is different from the one dealing with the trends of scientific research in natural sciences which will be taken up in the next part.

With due consideration to national policies for the promotion of science, research subjects in various fields of humanities and social sciences may be classified into three main groups as follows: (1) those which are strongly inclined to approach the study of human beings and their society and culture from global or fundamental points of view, thus providing scientific research in other fields with, so to speak, a common basis of research activities (mostly belonging to philosophy, literature, history, etc.), (2) those which, studied with close relations to, but independently from, the fundamental subjects above, are aimed at grasping human activities and their structure from specific aspects, and at conducting theoretical analysis of the essence, functions and changes (mostly belonging to psychology, sociology, economics, etc.) and (3) those which are aimed at the comprehensive approach to practical phenomena of human society and culture, on the basis of research methods and results of the first and second groups (area studies, development studies, international relations, comparative cultural studies, etc.)

Research subjects in the first group above mostly belong to research fields with a long tradition, and their research methods are considerably different from those for natural sciences. In the past, research on these subjects was conducted in the form of literature analysis or speculation by individual researchers. Recently, however, even in this field, researchers who try to approach practical subjects from new viewpoints, playing a part in interdisciplinary research, have been increasing in number. Thus, the nature of this research field will possibly undergo a gradual change.

The second group of research which is mostly aimed at studying the structure and changes of human behaviour from specific viewpoints is somewhat similar to natural sciences, in that it pursues scientific laws, requires research instruments forgathering primary research data and puts emphasis on quantitative measurements etc. Moreover, by virtue of the rapid development of information sciences in recent years, which has brought about a remarkable advancement in theoretical model formation. in the information processing system, in quantitative measurement techniques, etc., research in this field has been greatly developed along with interdisciplinary research among related fields.

The third group of research is aimed at solving practical problems, such as those related to population, urbanization, etc., with which both Japan and the rest of the world are facing. This research is conducted in cooperative efforts between academic circles and the various quarters concerned. In conducting research on these subjects, novel concepts and new styles of planning are considered necessary. Since joint research with information sciences and other related technology often proves effective for conducting research in this field, it often becomes necessary to adopt a large-scale research system with flexible mechanisms.

Each of the three types of research has experienced various changes during the past several decades. The first change is seen in the increasing tendency towards specialization and differentiation, and in the inclination for synthesization which has recently begun to appear.

In recent years, academic specialities have become fragmented. At the same time, techniques for analysis have been refined and advanced, making it possible to collect a large quantity of data through large-scale social surveys. However, there are some criticisms that efforts for the integration of academic research may have been insufficient. In the fields of politics and economics, some researchers are even of the opinion that these two specialities, which now exist separately from each other, should return to their starting point where they existed together as a single field of "political economics". As for the field of sociology, some sociologists are of the opinion that, in order to study the long-term fluctuations of the society, research from the standpoint of historical sociology is important. In the field of area studies, the conventional attitude of conducting area studies from separate viewpoints of economics and cultural anthropology has become weak and area studies has become increasingly regarded as an integrated speciality.

It goes without saying that both specialization and synthesization are necessary, but the trend thus far has placed emphasis on specialization. However, in the future. greater importance will be attached to integration and synthesization. The reorganization of specialities in the humanities and social sciences will progress concurrently with the changes in overall trends.

The second tendency is internationalization of research. Lately, researchers in the humanities and social sciences, who seldom went out of Japan in the past, go abroad for study more often than before, and even in the study of Japanese history or Japanese thought many researchers, discovering primary literature in foreign countries have rewritten their predecessors' theories. We are nearing the end of the time when a Japanese researcher in Japanese studies can get along solely with research materials written in Japanese.

In the past, researchers could have access to research findings abroad only through literature, but today's researchers are provided with increasing opportunities to visit foreign countries and to talk face to face with foreign researchers. The restrictions in regard to access to research materials have also been diminished. Further, in fields where conceptions and research methods are basically the same, exchanges with foreign countries have been further accelerated and intensified. As a result, the areas of common interest have been expanded. Thus, international comparisons are now conducted as a matter of standard procedure. Scientific research in various fields is now conducted in Japan without any time lag behind countries abroad. One of the remarkable features of today's humanities and social sciences in Japan is that research in Japan has become contemporaneous with research in other industrialized nations.

Research activities aimed at solving problems are possible on the basis of studies accumulated in this way, and today's highly industrialized Japanese society has become so enlarged and complex that it cannot be analyzed in the existing framework of disciplines. Analysis of, and comparison of relations among advanced industrial societies, which are confronted with common issues, is indis-pensable not only for the solution of problems but also for a better understanding of individual societies.

The third tendency involves that which has resulted from a series of the so-called information oriented trends. In some fields, the use of the computer started early in the 1960's, and the introduction of various new forms of information processing technology early in the l980's has brought researchers in the humanities into the flow of the information age. In the field of humanities and social sciences in Japan, novel styles of research are going to take root, due to the establishment of data bases of Japanese classics and history, bibliographical reference services among university libraries, the accessibility to data bases overseas, etc.

In what way will these three tendencies change the existing research in the humanities and social sciences in Japan? It will take some time to give a definite answer to this question, but it may be said with certainty that the contemporaneousness of research across national boundaries and the international distribution of research materials will be further promoted by these information oriented trends.