Abstract
This study aims to clarify the ideological characteristics of the theory of social studies education in the early postwar period by comparing the academic approaches of Shiro Baba and Kaoru Ueda. Baba’s sociological approach emphasizes technologies that are useful to society. In order to rebuild devastated Japan, we aimed to cultivate human resources who can learn to deal with actual situations and play an active role as a member of society. On the other hand, Ueda’s philosophical approach is characterized by its emphasis on freedom and harmony. With the end of the war, we aimed to dispel the predecessor’s tendency and consider social studies as a completely new subject. However, Baba and Ueda’s approaches were too challenging that they ended up understood only partially. While social studies in the early postwar period advocated the ideal as a brand-new subject, its ideological characteristics were, in reality, the contradiction of leaving it to the autonomy of the teachers in the field and forcing them to change their course.
