Experiência urbana e diferença geracional na formação da cultura popular japonesa

Abstract

With the rising popularity of Japanese popular culture (e.g. anime, manga), there has also been an increase in essentialist discourses describing this as the manifestation of supposedly immutable features of Japanese culture. Although several social theorists have rightly criticized this line of argument, they often fail to provide a theoretically clear alternative framework. The aim of this study is to identify conceptual elements that might help us develop such a framework. Based on the work of influential sociologists of culture in Japan, I argue that two concepts in particular deserve special attention: urbanization and generational difference. These two concepts allow us to understand more clearly the diversity and the historicity of the social conditions giving rise to popular culture in Japan today