This essay is a study of the "anti-essentialist" approaches as the methodology in the realm of sociology and human sciences, which have become prevalent for recent years. Here, I would like to examine the following three types of "anti-essentialism": 1) the social constructionism which has been developed mainly in a sociology of social problems; 2) the post-structuralism such as the feminism, cultural studies and post-colonial studies; and 3) Richard Rorty's Neo pragmatism. They all have a great deal of studies evolved under the impact of so-called the linguistic turn. It appears, however, they sometimes come into conflicts as their targets and goals are not common to but different from each other. My primary concern is to review comparative studies of these approaches extensively, and thus to explore the potentialities and/or limitations of the "anti-essentialism" in a sociological perspective. Talking about the narratives of the "anti-essentialist" theory, special attention is given to the positionality of the speaker-including analyst/researcher. In this context, it may be recognized as a new method in sociological research distinct from preceding approaches and dislocating them. Such a stance, I presume, rather signifies the thoroughness in theoretical setting of sociological issues.

特集家族とその社会的生活世界の探求
研究ノート