This paper discusses the following three matters.1) Welfare sociology is one of the hyphen sociologies, and is based on general sociology or theoretical sociology.2) Welfare sociology is the science of social welfare as social action by interpretation, or the science of understanding social welfare as the product of a total society by analysis.3) In Japan, welfare sociology was established as late as the beginning of the 21century.

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The purpose of this paper is to make a brief survey of the theoretical development of welfare sociology in postwar Japan, to assess its success and to examine the problems which remain today from the author's perspective.
To achieve this purpose, t his paper examines, firstly, Tadashi Fukutake's paper on sociology and social policy published in 1948 in connection with the theoretical trends of social policy studies in postwar Japan. It is argued that Fukutake's paper had the potential for the theoretical development leading to a social democratic model of welfare state studies, but that this potential was never to be realized under the circumstances surrounding social sciences in the 1950s and the 1960s. Secondly, this paper analyzes the theoretical development of social development studies to social planning and social indicator studies in the 1960s and the 1970s. It argues that the contribution of social planning and social indicator studies in this period to the development of theoretical framework and analytical tools for applied sociological studies is to be highly evaluated. Thirdly, this paper analyzes the development of comparative welfare state and social policy studies in the 1980s and the 1990s, paying special attention to the interdisciplinary nature of this field of research. Fourthly, this paper examines the contribution of Yoshiya Soeda's work to the development of social welfare studies focusing specifically on his theory of welfare sociology.
The paper concludes by raising three theoretical issues that n e e d to be considered in the analysis of the historical development of welfare sociology, and in the examination of the problems which confront welfare sociology today.

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Through the analysis of the gap between Japan and Britain from the perspective of “ universalism ”, the unique characteristics of Japanese social policy studies, as well as those of the post-war Japanese Welfare State, can be illustrated. After, the meanings of “universalism” and “selectivity”are briefly reviewed in the context of British social policy, the “Japanese ” way in which social policy researchers applied these British concepts into Japan's policy development is examined focusing on the period after 1980. It is then suggested that the concept of universalism may be more appropriately applied to Japanese policy development before 1980 rather than after 1980. The paper concludes that the concepts of universalism and selectivity do not necessarily provide a proper framework for the analysis of post-war Japanese policy development, because the foundation of the Japanese Welfare State is not the statutory universal provision of social services, which is the case in Britain, but the means-tested income maintenance underpinned by the ideal of human rights.

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Sociology of social welfare shuold be discussed from macro and micro sides of the social system. However, the micro side ( i. e. social work) has been without sufficient investigation in Japan. What and how can we discuss under a framework of the sociology social work practice?This paper aims at providing the answer to the questions. In approaching problems, it is useful to refer the concepts and methods of medical sociology. For example professionalization or the transformation of professionalism can be a guiding concept to our concern. Professionalization in the social work field has been developed in accordance with the modernization of the social system. However, recently we are confronted with another major social change; post-modernization. Social work is now caught between the two different forces of social change. This is one of the important subjects to consider in the study of social work practice.

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In 21st century, the reexamination of the welfare state of the 20^th century is progressing, and welfare sociology in relation to macro-sociology and social theory must be examined. In this article, we consider several points of welfare from the view of a value orientation system. The aim in using the term, “value orientation system”, is to clarify the complex relations between multiple value systems.
To study the transformation of the value orientation system, we focus on the three angles of social planning, social control/social movement and the recognition of social issues.
Regarding social planning, the discussion on normative theories become active. I reorganize these as 4 theoretical poles and confirm that there is a strong concern to communality in sociology.
For social control and social movement, the decline of nation-centered schemes such as welfare states has many people looking forward to the models of welfare society, welfare government and welfare world, and the growing expectation in welfare governance is looked at.
Finally, in the recognition of social issues, the concept of needs reappear s. However new issues such as risk, self-decision etc. become apparent. There is a need to examine and investigate the uniqueness and their interrelations of welfare precisely.

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Rather than dealing with direct solutions to issues such as birth, ageing, disease, death, disablity, unemployment, discrimination, anxiety, isolation, abuse and etc., sociologists' main interest has been in making clear a social context which would resolve social needs. As individuals'needs are determined by a value system built into political, economical and cultural categories as social class, social group, social network, and regional community, they must find solutions to their needs by approaching the intermediary. Especially in Japan sociologists focus on the regional community as the intermediary between individuals and the established system, and discuss social needs and methods of resolve through a regional community basis such as in the case of community care or community organization. However, the activities of regional communities should be reconstructed on coping with the enlargement of territories and expansion of everyday-life activities and growing local administration.

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“ Family” has been frequently discussed in the policy making process, since the Basic Structural Reform of Social Welfare started in the 1990s. Especially, with the advancement of an “aging society with lower birth rate ” and the problems and conflicts that modern families face, supporting the necessity of the Basic Structural Reform of Social Welfare has become a major topic. As a result, it has become the focus of debates regarding “family welfare” and “family policies” in recent research of both Family Studies and Social Welfare Studies. However, most of those debates have not reached a consensus on basic concepts, but also remain futile arguments on ideologies. The task of developing accumulative research in the area of “families and welfare policies” remains.
In this paper, the three issues, of “policy categories as subjects for examination,” “the division of policy domains,” and “influence of value factors” are discussed as the main reasons for confusion in debates of “families and welfare policies.” Then, recent progress made in both studies of the changes in the family structure and of the welfare reform are investigated, as significant and challenging factors at the interface between these two areas of study. The arguments will be explored based on the three criteria, “principles of family self-help,” “norms of gender and generation,” and “principles of self-determination.”

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The author has been concerned with the trend of the social security systems in Central Europe. In this paper, he points out the characteristics of the social security systems in Central Europe from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, what is called “the transition period”, and examines the relationship between the economy and the social security systems with particular reference to Poland, and discusses their significance.
Central European countries experienced diverse and dynamic changes in their societies by the transition started in the end of the 1980s. Under these circumstances, the social security systems in Central Europe during the transition period, which are characterized by “generosity” and “pathdependency”, enabled rapid economic stabilization and growth, as well as contributing to political and social stability. Specifically, an application, properly modified, of the previous social security system constructed under the socialist order, and a postponement of their drastic and time-consuming reforms are the most important factors that made it possible for Central European countries to prioritize economic policies.
Consequently, the high level of generosity in the social security systems in Central Europe during the transition period helped promote economic efficiency by absorbing those who emerged from the transition and could not adapt to the new social order by keeping them latent temporarily, and created the circumstances in which each government could concentrate on economic policies. In this sense, the social security systems in these countries contributed to a rapid progress of transition.

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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.

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The purpose of this case study is to reveal that the independence of organization leaders and non -profit organizations and their search for identity can facilitate the formation of a network of welfare organizations.
The Chita area in Aichi prefecture has recently drawn the attention of the social welfare community. Many social welfare non-profit organizations and the networked organizations coordinated by “ Support Chita ” ( a supporting NPO ) have been very successful in their service. Non-profit organizations for welfare in the Chita area have already served as “resident mutual-aid type” welfare organizations. The leaders of “resident mutual-aid type” welfare organizations have been in search for the identity of the organization because they did not have a fixed model for activities like “resident mutual-aid type” welfare organizations and because most of them were not supported by local government and neighboring self-governing bodies. In this way the leaders facilitated the formation of a network of welfare organizations in the Chita Peninsula.

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This paper makes a case study of the activities of Hisaichi-shogaisha Center (Support Center for the Handicapped in Kobe ), a volunteer group which was formed immediately after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, and has been assisting the self-determination of the disabled and has been trying to realize mutual support since its founding, thereby consides the process in which assistance for self-determination stemming from ‘spontaneous duty’ in Hisaichi-shogaisha Center shows a social extension evolving from a two-sided relationship the three-sided one.
In the support activities at Hisaichi-shogaisha Center, the relationship between a disabled person and the staff is not severed even in a difficult case. If trouble does occur, it is interpreted by the staff as an opportunity to form equal relations with the disabled by admitting each other's differences, and seen as a chance to train one another. In assisting self-determination, life goals and life style choiced by the disabled person are respected, and controlling their self-determination is prevented by applying a method I call “ loophole finding ” which does not conform to regulations of a system, or rules and manuals. Hisaichi-shogaisha Center staff do not sever relationships with disabled persons, and at the same time, keep the relationship open to others. This is the method of practicing support in a relationship of three based on complementary relationships among the various staff. In keeping the relationship between a disabled person and a staff of Hisaichi-shogaisha Center open to another staff as a third party, it promotes awareness of the limitations of one individual's ability to find a solution. This method is employed not only at the individual level, but at the organization level. By employing this method at the organization level, Hisaichi-shogaisha Center intends to form a network between support groups and to gain ‘the sympathy of the community’.

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In this paper, I explore one of the roots of the devaluation of care work in Japan, focusing on the administration of the program of Tsukisoi for the care of the elderly in hospitals between the 1970‘s and 1990’s. Tsukisoi were care attendants hired directly by the patient, not by the hospital, but stayed all day in the hospital to give around the clock care to the patient. Tsukisoi had provided the bulk of hands-on care for the elderly in hospitals. A program of Tsukisoi was promoted by health care policy in the 1970's to 1980's to cope with the social issue of care for the bed-bound elderly, but was problematized and put to an end in 1990's. Though the program of Tsukisoi in itself is over and front line care workers hired by the hospital have substituted them, the history of the program still greatly contributes to the devaluation of front line care work. While a certain part of today's care attendants in medical settings are semi-professionalized with nationally legislated certification, they have not yet been revalued and continue to be regarded as having ‘low skill’ or being of ‘low social status’ and their income is accordingly low.
This paper points out that one reason for the de v a luation of care workers is rooted in and perpetuated through the historical use of the term “ Tsukisoi” in Japanese health care policy. The framework has not been changed toward revaluing care work even with the professionalization of front line of care work, but rather been established for the devaluation of those care workers.

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We attained a universal social security system almost half a century ago. The system was created based on the separate schemes established at the end of the last World War. The universal system consists of pension insurance and health insurance systems, both of which are composed of residence-based and employment-based schemes. The employment-based schemes rely on payasyou-earn insurance contributions but the residence-based schemes are dependent on either flat or lower insurance contributions based on voluntary income declaration. As yet the residencebased schemes provide nearly half the equivalent of the insurance benefits of the employmentbased schemes supported by unjustifiably heavy state subsidies from general revenue. We once attained free medical services for the elderly aged 70 years and over with co-payment covered from general revenue, although the free services only survived for less than a decade. One must note that many people covered under employment-based health insurance while they are young and earning relatively higher income come into residence-based health insurance once they retire with less income and often poorer health.
With an ever lower birth rate and the first wave of baby-boomers after the war approaching retirement age, our population is ageing quite rapidly compared to other developed countries. Thus our social insurance system, even with the recent addition of social care or long term care insurance, is facing the issue of inter-generational social justice as well as critical financial difficulties which are most urgent in the case of residence-based health insurance schemes. We all agree that our system requires a comprehensive overhaul, but so far we have only added partial reforms one after another and undermined public confidence in the system. In this article the author presents international illustrations from Great Britain and Sweden and proposes a new unified social security system based on the idea of selective universality.

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