Local Communities and Family Strategies

Abstract

This article describes the purpose and structure of the symposium “Local Communities and Family Strategies,” a part of the annual meeting of the Japan Society of Family Sociology held at Shizuoka University on September 8, 2013, summarizes four articles in the special issue based on the three presentations and the commentary, and addresses the issues raised for discussion at the symposium.
It reveals the multilayered characteristics of family strategy and the complexity of support provision by the community drawing on Tsutomi's report on job-training support by ordinary citizen volunteers for unemployed youth having difficulty entering the job market, Nishimori's report on an NPO's activities supporting mothers and children who evacuated from Fukushima to Kobe after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and Yamaji's examination of rescue, evacuation, recovery, and community development in disaster areas. It then examines the limitations and effectiveness of “family strategy” in line with Kambara's criticisms regarding its effectiveness and her claim for the potential of the “life system theory” approach.