Since 2000, family studies in Japan have revealed disparities in children’s life course based on social class. These disparities stem from factors such as single parenthood, poverty, and low income. However, a recent surge in college-educated dual-income couples, coupled with a decrease in women’s childbearing retirements, has led to a widening of societal disparities, particularly among the middle class in Japan. These new inequalities have emerged as unintended consequences of gender equality policies and the promotion of work-life balance. It is contended in this study that Welfare Sociology research should focus on identifying and analyzing these unforeseen outcomes of social policies.

In this article, best practices in care studies within welfare sociology are discussed with a focus on both the relationship between clinical and policymaking research and the social change involved with care studies. In　 the first half, care is contextualized as an area of interest in welfare sociology and care studies are analyzed considering the characteristics of welfare sociology. The discourse in the Journal of Welfare Sociology（ including in a special feature of the journal） is referred to concerning what welfare sociology covers, its best practices, and the associated issues. This analysis reveals an important issue in care studies―not enough work has been done to connect research on care practice with clinical practice, making it difficult to apply the research findings to practical policymaking. In the second half, the importance of considering social change when discussing care is discussed, and examples of research themes, such as related to technological progress, that care-studies scholars should engage with in the future are presented. The potential risks to care practice from the government’s scientific care agenda are also discussed. Moreover, a category of research that focuses on ways to address these risks, namely research aimed at creating multiple dimensions of science-based care, are highlighted in this article. To exemplify such research, the authors’ works related to the development and application of a care evaluation scale are introduced. The aim of these works was to bridge the gap between phenomenological theorization of care in clinical settings and research on care policymaking. Finally, the relationship between, and efforts to bridge, care theory and care policymaking research in welfare sociology in this age of scientific care are summarized.

Today’s underpopulated rural village communities show a weakening of the tendency toward containment of residents’ livelihoods completely within the community, due to the growth and diversification of social networks with both internal and external components. Amid growing social mobility using private vehicles, residents increasingly move back and forth across a wide area on an everyday basis, even as their livelihoods remain based in underpopulated rural village communities. Such everyday mobility in fact supports the livelihoods of seniors living in un- derpopulated rural village communities. Even if we treat seniors living in under- populated rural village communities as senior single-person households, if their families include children who have left for other localities nearby, then in not a few cases those children will support the seniors’ livelihoods through grocery shopping and hospital visits. But it would be hard to say that sufficient analysis has been conducted on the current state of both community structure and livelihood structure in underpop- ulated communities, while taking into consideration the impact of growth in ev- eryday mobility and the actual state of relations between senior households and their families. Accordingly, in order to ascertain the community structures and livelihood structures of underpopulated rural village communities, the need to establish a category of regions that includes underpopulated areas is identified for regions consisting of underpopulated rural village communities and nearby　provincial cities. The relationship between senior households and their families of children who have left for other localities is then verified based on the results of a social survey conducted continuously in Tamagawa, Hagi, Yamaguchi Pre- fecture, Japan. By describing some aspects of the livelihood structure in a con- temporary underpopulated rural village community, clues for considering the possibility of continuation of livelihoods in underpopulated regions are identi- fied.

By summarizing Dr. Yoshiya Soeda’s long research career and the work he left behind during that time, the attempt is made in this article to develop a ten- tative discussion of what the next generation can and should learn. A general perspective on research succession in terms of relationships be- tween researchers, what can be passed on to the next generation, and how re- search results are read will first be established. Next, Dr. Soeda’s wide-ranging research fields into three areas will be summarized: a. Life and Welfare, b. Cul- ture and Social Awareness, and c. Politics and History. The following viewpoints will be discussed: a. Life structure, b. Sociology of the elderly, c. Support and care, d. Sociology of social problems, and e. Welfare sociology as political so- ciology. The characteristics of Dr. Soeda’s research, such as footwork between positions, his position on theory, and understanding of party rationality and his distance to it will also be touched upon. His background that led to these char- acteristics will also be taken into account. The sociology of knowledge from the perspectives of timeliness, self-expression, undercurrents and crossroads will be examined. Finally, a personal note on what Dr. Soeda was trying to convey as a professional practitioner of writing will also be included.

In his work, Yoshiya Soeda-sensei aimed for a brand of sociology that was fo- cused on understanding, based on his belief in the effectiveness of the field as a discipline to gain insight into the nature of people and society. In the interest of his own self-actualization, as well as for the advancement of sociological re- search, including the sociology of welfare, Soeda-sensei never neglected his ef- forts to “write a thesis” on sociology, including the very process of understand- ing and expression. To do work that would contribute to the understanding of people and society for his present and future readers, he consciously and ac- tively leveraged his comprehension that approaches the reality of the whole and its parts, as well as his ability to express himself freely and unencumbered by the constraints of sociology. 　What can we, as successors of Soeda-sensei’s work, inherit? The answer found in the discussion of this paper is as follows: the attitude and practice of making all efforts to tirelessly “write a thesis” for the sake of self-actualization and the advancement of sociological research by learning about the understand- ing of the subject and how to express that understanding.

In this paper, the possibilities of Yoshiya Soeda’s “life structure theory” as a perspective for understanding the activities of people who are positioned be- tween individualization and solidarity in late modernity are examined. In doing so, the modern possibilities of his theory will be pointed out while keeping in mind the new lifestyles that have emerged since the 2000s. Specifically, an overview of urban sociology research in Japan is provided and “shu-katsu（end- of-life activities）” is taken as a specific example of the practice of “colonizing the future” in old age. In this process, his theory is positioned as having the po- tential to analyze aspects of life politics in which lifestyles are forced upon peo-ple. Additionally, the perspective of “life planning” to understand the desire to place one’s own life on a firm basis independently and stabilize one’s life for the future is examined. Finally, it will be shown that it is possible to apply Soe- da’s “life structure theory” to things other than pursuing a lifestyle in old age. Therefore, Soeda’s perspective of “life structure theory” is positioned as a re- flection of how people living in the late modern period deal with problems re- lated to life, welfare, and culture. The intention is to tentatively develop the parts of Yoshiya Soeda’s sociological achievements that should be passed on to future generations.

The focus of this report is on a group that has established a system of pub- lic-private collaboration on the initiative of local residents and are implement- ing initiatives to identify and solve local problems, as the policy goal of a re- gionally symbiotic society requires collaboration between public and private ac- tors. The kinds of ideas the resident leaders had in developing their activities are examined in this study. One resident leader expressed her concern and en- couragement to the staff. She encouraged the staff to take the initiative in plan- ning, and she made an effort to encourage them to draft plans and to make them feel a sense of fulfillment in the community. In particular, she recognized the importance of clearly demonstrating that the success of the project would be due to the ideas of the staff. In addition, the group shared a clear vision of finding and solving problems, which encouraged public-private collaboration. Another leader played a major role in representing the voice of the residents. The specific knowledge and experience he had gained in his professional career was a boost to the development of residents’ activities. He also contributed to the voices of those who are in a vulnerable position. The public projects in which the organizations participate, their various voluntary activities, and their representation of the voices of the socially vulnerable have all led to the discov- ery and solution of local issues. The existence of such leaders has played a part in the realization of public-private collaboration.

The security of people with disabilities and of the local community are often contrary. When the actions of a person with a disability are regarded as causing harm to others or infringing the law, then conflicts sharpen. Caregivers who mediate between the two inevitably struggle with dilemma. The aims of this paper are: 1）To recognize that ‘security’ is the leading sub- ject of social inclusion in the 2020s following the UN’s “Concluding observa- tions on the initial report of Japan”; 2）To reveal caregivers’ perspective on car- ing for people who harm others or infringe law; and 3）To describe caregivers’ experience of the dilemma between the possibilities and limitations of their per- spective on caring. To these aims, Tojisya-kenkyu of caregivers is employed in this study. This produced the following two theses. （1）A space of exemption from responsibility is effective for the recovery of people with disabilities who are accused of harm or legal infringements. It is notable that this perspective is the polar opposite of the severe punitive policy that is the mainstream response to those who are accused of harm or legal in- fringements, and suggests the possibility of recovery for these people. （2）However, caring activity that creates space to exempt responsibility arous- es in caregivers a sense of dilemma and guilt. Some limitations are suggested, that is, ‘even if you exempt someone from responsibility, the fault never disap- pears’ and ‘where, in the world, does the fault and the responsibility go?’ At the foundation of this dilemma, there is an ambiguity in the meaning of ‘care.’ Discourses on care that take account of security can support a ‘secure base,’ as well as a ‘social defense.’ It is important to note that both discourses are referred to as ‘care’ within present caring practice. It is necessary to work through the dilemma between security and care for an inclusive society.

Since its establishment in 2012, the After-School Day Service has continued to expand in scale, increasing its social presence and demand, but the reality faced by supporters in the field has not been fully captured. The focus of this paper is on an office that claims to provide behavioral therapy-like developmen- tal support, and through the description and analysis of the narratives, clarifies the logics of support in the meaning-world of the supporters. First, in the meaning-world of the supporters, it was clarified that “support for the purpose of transformation of the child” is not only a logic of support that aims at “overcoming a specific defect.” A logic of support has also been estab- lished that places the problem on a different dimension from the defect itself and is oriented toward “alternative development” that is not a direct overcom- ing of the defect. A further logic of support oriented toward “transformation to become self-affirming,” including the child affirming his or her own current de- fects, by lowering the need to become better than what they are now has also been established. Also clarified in this paper is a logic of support that does not aim at transformation of the child, but aims at “acceptance of the child as he or she is,” and a logic of support that aims at “maintaining the child's merit” by viewing characteristics that could be considered shortcomings in a positive light. It was then revealed that there are multiple logics of support that are not lim- ited to the view of support generally expected as developmental support. These are apparently conflicting views of support regarding transformation of the child, but they form a multi-layered logical structure in the meaning-world of the supporters, and thereby coexist.

In this study, intensive interviews were conducted with economically stable middle-aged men with siblings in regional cities in China, with the aim of eluci- dating how they perceive and interpret their roles in providing care for aging parents based on their narratives. The results reveal that economically stable middle-aged men（sons）in contemporary urban China are bound by the “norms for sons supporting elderly parents” due to their economic stability. Conse- quently, they tend to place a high value on their own contributions to elderly parent care while simultaneously undervaluing the caregiving efforts of their fe- male siblings（daughters）. Furthermore, despite the practical transition from “son-to-daughter support for elderly parents,” economically stable sons find themselves constrained by the “norms for sons supporting elderly parents” and make desperate attempts to maintain their “son’s identity.” As a result, it is sug- gestsed that the apparent strengthening of family bonds in the context of elderly parent care is not genuinely occurring. Instead, it is revealed that such strength- ening is observed among individuals who adhere to the norms associated with caregiving roles within the family, especially in the context of contemporary ur- ban China.