At present, the economic changes occurring in the Japanese society (such as IT revolution, globalization of economy, etc.) have shaken the structure of the traditional Japanese economic system (such as life-long employment system, supreme priority on enterprise, etc.) as well as the mode of Japanese family which has been closely related with the economic system. On the other hand, the effect of changes in family (such as decreasing children and ageing of family members) on the economic system cannot be neglected.
At the symposium of this year, economists and family sociologists were requested to discuss the future of economy and family. Two economists made suggestions on the image of future family from the viewpoint of the perspective on the future economy and two family sociologists emphasized the conservativeness in the way of how the family, enterprise and policies have been at present.
Definitely, it has become necessary to discuss the mutual relationship between the economy and family in order to see through the future of the Japanese society.

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Japanese Sengyoushufu, (a housewife who doesn't work outside, and only takes care of her husband and children) has never been a traditional arrangement and in fact was born only recently. In an agricultural society, most wives had to work in the rice fields, and there were no such things as a “housewife”. In order for Sengyoushufu to have come into being, “Sengyoushufu” husbands must have existed first. These husbands came into being as a result of Japanese economic development. Japanese economic development in the 1920's and 30's created stable and relatively high paying jobs. Rapid economic growth after World War II increased the number of the husbands, and so sengyoushufu became common in Japanese society. The ratio of Sengyoushufu to the total of married women increased nearly 40% in 1980.
But the age of rapid Japanese economic growth was completely over by the 1990's and the salaries of husbands stopped increasing. Wives were requested to work outside the home to earn money for family expenses, and could no longer take care of their husbands as they once solely did. Husbands have had to change. Japanese society and institutions as a whole have also had to change because of economic pressures.

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[in Japanese]

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In the Japanese modern industrialized society, there was a division of labor between men and women in which husbands were the only family members engaging in fulltime jobs and wives did housekeeping work. But this employment-family division of labor is no longer the typical model in Japan, because the employment system that has supported the employment-family model is now changing. One is the lifetime employment that has guaranteed the employment of husbands so far. The other is the seniority-based wages that have guaranteed the necessary income for the family with a wife at home. However, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain both the lifetime employment and the seniority-based wages. This change of the employment system will basically decrease the necessity of family formation, though the family can play the role of a safety net to some extent under the circumstance of lowering employment security. This also means that the family formation becomes at last free from economic restriction.

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[in Japanese]

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Setting 'family wage' as the key concept, this paper aims to analyze family-company relationship in Japan after World War II.
There is a clear division of labor between husband and wife. The male breadwinner stays at the company all day long, the wife takes care of the home and the children. Not conjugal love but the money that the husband brings is the main family ties. The husband's company supported this Japanese-style 'modern family', offering long-term employment and various in-firm welfare, while keeping the husband as a 'company man'. 'Modern family' was materialized in the high economic growth of the 1960s.
This 'materialistic' family ties became visible in the 80s. To utilize human resources more effectively, the company transferred its male employees from one plant to another. The husband had to leave for his new job by himself, because his wife refused to go with her husband. But, separate lives did not result in increasing divorces.
Critics say that Japanese families are at the brink of collapse due to downsizing and restructuring of ailing companies after the burst of the bubble in the 90s. Until now, however, downsizing and restructuring has been limited in scope. More frequent transfer of employees has not increased divorce. So far, the 'materialistic' modern family has proved to be sustainable.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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Recently, there have been issues of 'diversity' in the field of family sociology. In terms of the 'diversity' problems, we could have dealt with the differences in families including both the synchronical and the diachronical one. Though emerging recent 'diversity' problems have been related to the post-positivist views in social theories, and the rethinking of 'the family', it may be seen as that the two problems exist at the reflexively related but analytically distinct levels : one as the problem at the level of experiential realities, the other as the problem of theoretical perspectives. Currently, the 'diversity' problem is centered on the concerns about 'diversification' of families and sometimes about family's post-modernization. However, this diachronical point of view has not been enough to cover a wide range of problems, especially about the synchronical differences in the former (so-called modern) families. This paper investigates an orientation of the current family sociology. Through focusing on those 'diversity' problems, I try to consider the usefulness and implications for the current family issues and theories that the social constructionist perspective has.

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the formulation of social research method in Post-World War II Japanese family sociology from the epoch of its establishment. With regard to social research method in sociology in general, it is quite popular to distinguish between quantitative and qualitative method, mutually compensating each other, placing more importance on the former than on the latter. The same dichotomized distinction has spread widely in the field of family sociology up to now, too. In this paper, we try to demonstrate that such a dichotomized distinction between quantitative and qualitative method in Japanese family sociology has been brought into existence around 1960s when the Japanese family sociology has been formed as a normal science. The examination is done from both sides : family sociology of its own and sociology or social research method in general. And finally, we will roughly trace the path by which this dichotomized distinction has influenced on the development of family sociology since then.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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Recently there are many discussions about “Infertility Problem” considered as “Very Low Fertility Problem” in Japan. The aim of this paper is to describe the logic which characterise those discussions using the social constructionist approach. The approach offers to focus on the discourses and takes them to be reality producing and organizing activities. From this viewpoint, this paper analyses the references to the “Infertility Problem” in the correspondence of policy level to “Very Low Fertility”, and the discourses on “Infertility Problem” in the mass media. To conclude, in the correspondence of policy level, rhetoric of “subjective selection” is taken as a reason for making reference to “Infertility Problem”. It will lead to ambivalent results : the respect for individual choice and the attribution of responsibility to each individual. The results are emphasized through the discourses on “Infertility Problem” in mass media. The distinction between of them is the interpretive practice of narrating personal experience. Through that practice “Infertility Problems” are personalized and then orientation of social change is closed. The argument about the social correspondence of the “Infertility Problem” is to be developed with paying attention to the logic in it : the inequality arisen from undergoing medical treatment is concealed through that logic.

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We discuss theoretical problem of domestic violence, introduce and criticize the epoch-making paper of Holtzworth-Munroe, A. & Stuart, G.L., and, as a counterproposal, put forward our own theoretical framework of domestic violence, i.e. theory of junction of interest and omnipotency in batterers. In this theory, occurrence of domestic violence are determined by the mixture of two factors of interest structure and omnipotency-seeking psychic structure. The two-axes-analysis, which shows the pinpoint target to block the mechanisms of domestic violence, is very useful to the social policy to deter domestic violence.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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The aim of this paper is to review the research on youth in UK and other European countries that have been provided actively since 1980's. It improves the understanding of the reality of youth and the meaning of their historical change, and identifies the method of youth research in the context of the family. First, the holistic approach is discussed in terms of the life course perspective that appeared in the late 1980's. Second, the structure of the paradox that youth are polarized by “the extended period of dependence” is discussed. Third, the trial of understanding the transition to adulthood in terms of the concept of citizenship is discussed. Fourth, the validity of the exchange theory and the development approach is discussed as the method of understanding the parent-child relationship that exists in the period of transition to adulthood. Finally, it is considered that responsibility i.e. control and care, of parents is one of cultural factors that determines the structure of parent-child relationship in the period of transition. By using this factor, a comparable research on the parent-child relationship can be enhanced.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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