Twenty years have passed since the establishment of the Japan Society of Family Sociology (JSFS). This anniversary theme session, actualized by the joint planning of the editorial and research committees of JSFS, aimed to summarize the research trends of Japanese family sociology with a focus on theoretical development and set goals for the future tasks of research.
First, “The Progress of Family Sociology in the Postwar Era and its Contemporary Phases” (Yoshitaka Ikeoka) overviewed the research trends of the postwar period and pointed out features of the last two decades. The four presenters that followed were selected for their high productivity in family studies. Content focused on the interface between the family and other institutions or family studies and other academic disciplines: “Pedagogy and Family Studies” (Ryoko Kodama), “Sociology of Caring and Family Studies” (Takashi Iguchi), “Social Stratification Research and Family Sociology” (Akiko Iwama), and “Feminism Theories and Family Studies” (Yuki Senda). Hiroko Fujisaki and Michiko Miyamoto served as joint chairpersons.

View full abstract

The aim of this paper is mainly to throw light on the general outline of the development of Family Sociology over the past 20 years, which is the task of this anniversary theme session. In retrospect, from the late 1980s, the preliminary period of the Japan Society of Family Sociology, to the present, there was a grouping period seeking a new paradigm of Family Sociology, as the Nuclear Family Paradigm and Group Theory Paradigm, on which postwar Family Sociology had been relying, lost momentum and persuasiveness. For these 20 years, extrication from a dependence on Nuclear Family Paradigm and Group Theory Paradigm and seeking a new paradigm have been the overriding issues for Family Sociology. Both sides of the institution and research dyad before the 1980s had maintained their cohesive force but they were divided and became widely dispersed. This paper plans to give an overview by depicting the outline of the past 20 years on both sides, considering thereafter the present circumstances and future prospects of current Family Sociology.

View full abstract

For a long time, the main research theme of educational studies was on school education. But there was a turning point in the 1980s. The Japanese edition of Ariès's book was published in 1980. After that, people in Japan came to be very interested in family history and children's history.
In the 1980s there also occurred a number of criminal cases associated with social problems concerning family and children. In some of them, children were the victims, but in others, children were themselves the offenders. In both cases, the crimes happened within families.
After the 1980s, the family became a main research field in educational studies. The family became a target of educational policy, too. Family education was an educational issue of growing concern. As a result, homever, and somewhat paradoxically, the more attention people paid to family and school as a key to education, the more parents and teachers become targets of criticism in education.

View full abstract

This paper attempts to summarize the recent tendency of the literature towards family caregiving and social support and to clarify an important research theme regarding the sociology of families. The development of systems for universally providing formal care services to individuals has given rise to many studies on caregiving and social support. This study first investigates the origin and direction of this field by reviewing studies on family caregiving for the elderly and physically disabled adults and children. It then overviews the studies conducted and developed after the increase in provision for formal care services that came with the mid-1990s.
From this overview, we unravel two focal points in this field of research. The first point indicates that there exist many explanatory studies focusing on individuals engaged in care-giving and the interaction between the individuals involved. The second point concerns an approach that reconsiders the characteristics of intimacy for human beings and citizenship. This approach can be observed in studies on the familial aspect of “quasi-family relationships” and in arguments on social support for family caregivers.

View full abstract

This article explores four topics: 1) the conceptualization of the family in social stratification research; 2) the issues analyzed; 3) concerns about social class or stratification in family sociology; 4) similarities and differences between social stratification research and family sociology.
A review of major publications since the 1980s yields the following results: 1) in social stratification research, the family has been defined as a unit of reproduction in which socio-economic resources are shared; 2) although there is an increasing focus on women and the family, there has been little attention paid to the effect of social stratification on family relations; 3) despite the call for a social class or stratification perspective into family sociology, little research along such lines has been conducted. Further, despite interest since the 1990s in research on “individual choice” with respect to “individualization” and “diversification” of the family, not much relevant research has been undertaken.
I suggest more effort in analyzing the effects of social stratification—especially women's own social strata—on the family and re-examining issues related to “diversification” and “individualization” in connection with social stratification.

View full abstract

In this paper, I will consider the relationship between feminism studies and family studies, focusing especially on a historical analysis of the modern family.
Historical analysis of modern families became common in the 1980s, when modern society and the modern family faced historical changes in Japan. Modern family analysis historicized families, made families relative, and made the systematic analysis of family and other systems possible by using the constructionist method.
Feminism studies have made it clear how the “public” and “private” spheres have been divided and how gender systems have been constructed in modern society. I consider how family studies can contribute to feminist studies by focusing on the topic on sexuality.
In the last part of this paper, I rethink why we should work on the modern family and analyze recent family changes.

View full abstract

This study examines how the responsibilities of maternal gatekeeping of married women in Japan, in particular regarding childcare and housework, affect their husbands' participation in these areas. Furthermore, it examines which factors influence women's maternal gatekeeping. This study focuses on 682 married women with a youngest child under 12 years old, using data from the Survey of Nuclear Families in Japan (1999). The results show that, firstly, besides women's responsibilities of maternal gatekeeping, their engagement in childcare and housework decreases their husbands' participation in these areas. In addition, women's engagement in childcare and housework increases if they have less income as relative resources. Secondly, the factors influencing women's responsibilities of maternal gatekeeping are higher educational levels and employment. I conclude that women's responsibilities of maternal gatekeeping, as constructed in society, are important negative predictors of their husbands' involvement in childcare and housework. I propose to research not only factors about men, but also factors about their wives, regarding men's participation in childcare and housework.

View full abstract

This article seeks to explore the notion of “family” in the early works of Kizaemon Aruga (Ariga). Aruga's notion of “family” has been discussed mainly in relation to his ie and dozoku theory. Therefore, as ie and dozoku became rare in daily life, Aruga's theory was rarely used to study the family. But before working out his ie and dozoku theory, he had already used the word “family” as an important term. In his early works, Aruga problematized the family in inquiring into scientific methodology as it relates to science in daily life. The relationship between the problematization of family, scientific methodology, and daily life is different from that in current family studies. The implications of this relationship for family studies are discussed.

View full abstract