On the Problem of Life Setting (seikatsu-kozo)

There are a number of studies on the life-situation in our country. The most elaborate study was concerned with the economy of domestic life, mainly reported from an economic standpoint. It laid stress on the two points, i.e. the standard of living and the way of life. But, recently, the life-situation has been investigated from the sociological standpoint. It emphasizes the problem of situation of individuals in field of reference group, participation in groups, group identification, life space, particularly construction in time and space. In this paper, we shall comment on this socialogicol theory of the life situation-the theory of life setting (seikatsu-kozo) -considering the individual's behavior in relation to his life setting. This term “life setting”, as we shall use it, refers to the situation with which the individual or the group has to deal in any process of activity. With regard to the situation, this activity is planned and its results appreciated. This conception, therefore, contains a set of values and attitudes in conditions of daily life under which we have to act. The life setting involves two kinds of data. 1) The objective conditions under which individuals have to act, in short, the problem of social structure. 2) The mechanism of how the pre-existing or existing values (of individuals or groups) affect the individual behavior directly or indirectly. This is the problem of the integration of values. When we investigate problems of this type we must be concerned with the differences of life setting in terms of regionalism, generation and class which must place restrictions on the individual's behavior, consciously or unconsciously.