Abstract
This paper focuses on the experience of welfare as a gift, and considers how we can increase
its social fertility. We studied the actual situations of people receiving disability care or eldercare,
and carefully examined the richness of social interactions, which the current care system fails to
acknowledge.
A gift is the unequal transfer of resources measured in quantity and/or value. A gift embodies
various meanings. When it is given, a relationship occurs between the people involved, and may create
feelings of superiority and inferiority. When the transfer of resources occurs as a gift in the context of
welfare, the giver often takes control as the provider of resources. Hence, in order to maintain a sense
of equality within the relationship, many welfare systems have adopted a principle of exchange that
involves monetary payment for resources in care situations. For example, the modem Japanese long-term
care insurance system uses the slogan "From salvation to contract," and has built a system that
resembles the principles of a marketplace.
However, a welfare system based on exchange removes experiences and feelings that naturally
arise when one human being meets another. Exchange is not an appropriate basis for a welfare system
since welfare is meant to encourage human life, and must therefore retain its inherent nature of being a
gift. However, forcing a gift on others contradicts its original meaning. Thus, how can we experience
welfare as a gift?
We applied the method of participant observation, during which researchers are tom between the
dual roles of participant and observer. This pushes the researcher to examine the encounter beyond the
roles played by each individual. In the context of this study, we called the researcher' s involvement
"participant observation in the art of living" and focused on the process of conflict.
The character of the gift is created by the encounter beyond these roles. We call this a process
of "mutual gifts." We stress the need to speak positively about the nature of these mutual gifts in the
context of welfare. Finally, we point out that participant observation is somewhat similar to watching a
play, and discuss the benefits of "participant observation as a play."
