Ken Takakusa is a sociologist who works as an Assistant Professor at Chiba University, Japan. He received Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Tokyo in 2020.
His research interests include social theory, phenomenology, epistemology and methodology of the social sciences, sociology of science, sociology of culture, and media sociology. His Ph.D. dissertation traced Alfred Schutz’s theoretical development from the 1920s to the 1950s and reconstructed his epistemology of the social sciences. He formulated Schutz’s research interest as “the problem of life (Leben) and scientific knowledge (Erkenntnis)” and argued that Schutz attempted to reveal the relationship between them. As a post-doc researcher, he tried to extend the Schutzian scope to various theoretical problems including the problems of value-freedom, relativism, and communication. In 2021, he published a paper about Thomas Luckmann’s proto-sociology. The current focus of his research is to update the Schutzian phenomenology for constructing a contemporary social theory. He is increasingly interested in postphenomenology (Ihde, Verbeek), materialist phenomenology (Couldry, Hepp), communicative construction of reality (Knoblauch) and their relevance for the theoretical update in phenomenological social theory. Japanese anime culture and its relation to popular music have been another research topic. In Japan, the songs used as theme songs for animation works are called “ani-son” and are regarded as an independent genre in the popular music industry. He published some papers on how fans interpret “ani-son” in contemporary Japan. In 2023, he published his first book Alfred Schutz and the Epistemology of the Social Sciences: Social Scientific Inquiry in the Making (Japanese), which is based on his dissertation. His own book description is available in English at: https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/biblioplaza/en/A_00225.html The list of his publications is available at: https://researchmap.jp/takakusa/?lang=en https://chiba-u.academia.edu/KenTakakusa He is a faculty member of Chiba University. The website of the department of sociology is: http://socio.l.chiba-u.ac.jp/shoukai/kyouin/ (Japanese only) |
Non-degree Research Students
Ken is currently receiving a number of inquiries regarding non-degree research students. Research students are accepted only if they already have undergraduate level of sociological knowledge and if their research topic is one that he can supervise. Students are required to choose a research topic based on sociological concepts and theories. When inquiring about research students, please attach a research proposal that should include (1) topic, (2) literature review, (3) originality of your research in comparison with previous research, (4) theory and methodology you employ, (5) specific methods and procedures of your research, and (6) a bibliography.
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Graduate Students
Students need to pass the entrance examination. You can find detailed information at: https://www.gshpa.chiba-u.jp/index.html
Please be noted that Ken Takakusa is currently not in a position to supervise Ph.D. students. |