Philosophy of Social Welfare and Spirituality: A Historical Analysis of Social Workers's Religion

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03980
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Social welfare and social work studies
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: KIHARA Katsunobu 同志社大学, 社会学部, 教授 (20275382)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: スピリチュアリティ / 社会福祉哲学 / ソーシャルワーカー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research focuses on the relationship between social welfare philosophy and religiosity through an analysis of the origin of welfare. The features are as follows: religiosity is defined as a “spirituality” that is not yet organized, rather than a so-called religious organization or its doctrine; and spirituality was specifically verified in the framework of welfare philosophy using rational language.
Results illustrate a theoretical verification of the relationship between the framework of social welfare philosophy and spirituality. In addition, this study analyzes the denomination and spirituality of social workers.

Free Research Field

社会福祉学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

①社会福祉哲学の枠組みにおいてスピリチュアリティを検討しようとしている点、②福祉人物史研究を宗教性とスピリチュアリティに絞った横断的に総合的研究しようとする点、③スピリチュアリティの内面化だけでなく、社会性、国家性のマクロにまで拡大している点、④上記を国際比較として欧、北米、アジアとの比較で議論していこうとする点、⑤死生学の文脈に限定されないスピリチュアリティの社会福祉の応用的視座を明示する点である。