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There has long been a conventional understanding that mass communication studies in Japan started with the introduction of theories of mass communication from the USA in the 1950s. However, as this paper demonstrates, a new academic paradigm, ‘newspaper studies’ (shinbungaku) had begun to take shape as early as the 1920s. At first the infant discipline occupied a very marginal position in mainstream academia, but as Japan prepared for war during the 1930s, giving information increasing strategic importance, these early media studies became associated with the state's mobilization for total war. This paper identifies three competing perspectives in pre‐war newspaper studies: an empiricist‐historical perspective, a constructionist perspective, and a Marxist perspective. It then demonstrates how the second perspective transformed itself into a logic of propaganda, and joined hands with ultra‐nationalism. The paper concludes by arguing that the parameters of the discursive space concerning mass media in the 1920s and 1930s survived to the post‐war era. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we look at the history of social survey development in Japanese sociology. First, the history of social research in Japan before World War II is explored. Second, the introduction of survey research to Japan during the American occupation after World War II is examined, and third, the present state and roles of social survey research in Japanese sociology is discussed. Social research was introduced as an administrative tool for the government. Sociology and social research were developed under British empiricism and American pragmatism, but Japanese academia has been based on a metaphysical approach. Social research introduced as a practical tool long had difficulty in being accepted by Japanese academia. For this reason, most sociologists in universities did not use social survey research for practical purposes, but pursued qualitative methodologies for analyzing data to gain academic prestige even after Social Stratification and Mobility (SSM) and Sabro Yasuda's research projects spread social survey methods in the field of Japanese sociology. Such academics did not think that findings acquired through qualitative case studies had to be confirmed through quantitative data to serve a practical purpose, nor did they believe that quantitative data could be better understood when examined along side qualitative data. Social survey methods have been opposed by those who have favored case-study analysis methods in Japanese sociology. Needless to say, this opposition is fruitless. I propose that professional sociologists in Japanese universities should use social survey research for practical problems more frequently. This is the best way to establish sociology and social research as a science in Japanese society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]