働きすぎ問題と社会教育研究の課題

－研究対象の重層化の現代的意義－

抄録

  Shortening working hours is a great prerequisite for lifelong learning. But the problem of overworking has been treated as a problem that affects only workers and has been neglected in studies of Adult Education as Workers Education is no longer carried out. A new perspective on the overwork problem in adult education is needed. The purpose of this paper is to propose the hypothesis that a worker's family can be viewed as the subject which tries to address the overwork problem. This hypothesis is developed in two ways:

  1) Based on my analysis of letters to the editor which mentioned the overwork problem in newspapers, workers' families knew more about dangers of overwork than the workers themselves.

  2) At a workshop that focused on Karoshi (death from overwork) held at the Mizumoto Social Education Center of Katsushika (Tokyo) in 1990, it was found that a worker's family was in a position to prevent karoshi and address the overwork problem.

  The results show us that the overwork problem is not only a problem of work but also of lifestyle, and therefore this concerns worker's families.