Be sensitive to the slow structural changes in society. Aim to become "true elites" who can objectively view a society swirling with individual interests, detached from those very interests.
Participant Profile
Hiroshi Onishi
Field of Research: Marxian Economics1980: Graduated from the Faculty of Economics, Kyoto University. 1982: Completed the master's program at the Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University. 1985: Completed the Doctoral Programs at the Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University. 1989: Obtained a Ph.D. in Economics from Kyoto University. After serving as an associate professor at Ritsumeikan University, and as an associate professor and professor at the Faculty of Economics and the Graduate School of Economics at Kyoto University, he assumed his current position in 2012.
Hiroshi Onishi
Field of Research: Marxian Economics1980: Graduated from the Faculty of Economics, Kyoto University. 1982: Completed the master's program at the Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University. 1985: Completed the Doctoral Programs at the Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University. 1989: Obtained a Ph.D. in Economics from Kyoto University. After serving as an associate professor at Ritsumeikan University, and as an associate professor and professor at the Faculty of Economics and the Graduate School of Economics at Kyoto University, he assumed his current position in 2012.
Encountering My Research Theme and Its Appeal
The rural area of Kyoto Prefecture where my family lived was in a period of transition from a society with communal characteristics to one with modern human relationships. Amidst this, the electrical appliance store industry, in which my family's business operated, also began to change its business model. I became interested not in the changes brought about by individual economic policies, but in the changes to the economic system brought about by such shifts in social structure. Structural transformations like "feudalism," "capitalism," and "socialism" are changes of this magnitude.
Living on the upper floors of a condominium in Mita, I am concerned by the bright lights of office buildings that stay on past midnight every day. Why are the working conditions in Japan so poor? Why is "capital" so powerful in these workplaces? Marx argued that capitalism was a necessity¡ªan inevitability¡ªin post-Industrial Revolution society, but this also implies that it can become unnecessary under different technological conditions. For example, while capitalist social development is functioning effectively in present-day China, I wonder if its "expiration date" has passed in developed societies like Japan, which is experiencing zero growth. My first-generation ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ seminar students, driven by this awareness, delved into labor and gender issues for their Mita-ron (graduation thesis). This is Marxian economics: discussing the social system as a major structural change resulting from shifts in productive forces.
A Message to Students
It is more realistic to view the world not as "a collection of individuals with different preferences," as typically discussed in micro models, but as "a collection of individuals and groups with different interests." Women and men, urban and rural areas, industry and industry, and the poor and the rich¡ªor class and class¡ªall confront each other with differing interests. And it is natural for ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ students, as holders of special interests belonging to a particular social stratum, to want to protect those interests. However, that is not "academics"; it is merely the self-assertion of interests. Science, and the mark of a true elite, is to engage in discussions that are valid for society as a whole, detached from such personal interests. We are looking for such true elites.
(Interview conducted in November 2012)
*Profile and position are as of the time of the interview.