Issues and Methods of Historical Research on the Social Movements of Early Childhood Care and Education in the Late 1940s: Focusing on the Minshu-Hoiku Remmei (Democratic Childcare Alliance)

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K02685
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 09030:Childhood and nursery/pre-school education-related
• Research Institution: Chubu Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: HIRANO Kaori 中部学院大学, 人間福祉学部, 教授 (60454302)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 民主保育連盟 / 保育運動 / 浦辺史

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This paper confirms the points reached by previous research on the "Democratic Childcare League" (formed in October 1946 and dissolved in December 1952), and clarifies the issues and methods for overcoming them. Regarding the previous studies, we examined a comprehensive study by Hiroshi Urabe, who was a party to the League, a study of the history of ideas by Takeo Shishido, who took over Urabe's research, and a study by Sonoko Matsumoto, who summarized the testimonies of Urabe and others as the core of her research. As future research topics and methods, the paper proposes: 1) focusing on the "wartime experience," 2) analyzing and examining the movement from the perspective of collaboration and cooperation with other groups and organizations, and 3) examining the movement from a "total history (social history and psychological history)" perspective.

Free Research Field

社会福祉運動史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

今回の研究は、保育史研究の中で遅れが著しい運動史において、その研究成果の蓄積が最も乏しい戦後初期の保育運動を本格的に行っていくための試論となった。特に、占領軍（GHQ）による民主化の指導のもと、各種運動が花開いた時代状況において、官側ではなく民間側からどのような保育構想が出されていたのかを描き、その歴史的特質（意義と限界）を問いたいと考え、「民保」による運動へと着目した。
本稿では、そうした問題意識に基づき、「民保」に関する先行研究の到達点を確認するとともに、それらを乗り越えるための課題と方法を提示することができた。そして、その作業は、戦後初期の保育に関する研究上の礎石を築くことになろう。