Abstract
The purpose of this study is to clarify the scope of the ‘social welfare’ concept in Japan, and to construct a tentative framework for its analysis. The concept of ‘social welfare’ is an ambiguous one and is difficult to define. Many research scholars have had discussions on the concept from diverse perspectives, and yet its definition is still not clear.
In order to clarify this ambiguous concept, first, I attempt t o clarify the basic concepts in the study. Next, I examine widely received theories on the scope of the ‘social welfare’ concept in Japan. Finally, I construct an analytical framework for use as a tentative theory. The analytical framework is composed of two hypotheses: 1) The scope of the ‘social welfare’concept is provided by commonly held values which have the greatest influence through their social factors such as time, society and culture.2) The actual measures correspond to the role of ‘social welfare’ in solving or alleviating living problems in a specified way. Cases conform to the framework of these two hypotheses and come together to form the scope of social welfare. In addition, the analytical framework is based on some other major concepts which are classified into four different types of categories: ‘living problems’, ‘sense of value’, ‘minority’, and ‘majority’.
Conclusively, it is pointed out that social welfare is carried out through specific measures on specific senses of value. It can, therefore, reasonably be concluded that the scope of the ‘social welfare’ concept is variable because the common sense of value to minority and major ity groups is strongly affected by social factors.
