New Possibilities for Sociability and Solidarity Opened Up by the Children's Cafeteria

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20419
• Project/Area Number (Other): 19H05488 (2019)
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Pioneering)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund (2020); Single-year Grants (2019)
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 8:Sociology and related fields
• Research Institution: Chukyo University
• Principal Investigator: Sung Woncheol 中京大学, 現代社会学部, 教授 (20319221)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-06-28 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: ソシアビリテ / ソーシャルネットワーク / ケアの倫理 / 相互依存 / 関係性 / 子ども食堂

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Children's cafeterias were created in 2012 and have spread to more than 7,000 locations nationwide in the past 10 years or so. Why have children's cafeterias become so popular? And what are the strengths of children's cafeterias? Based on our observation of children's cafeterias in Nagoya City and a nationwide survey of 10,000 people on their awareness of children's cafeterias, we have identified the following two points. About half of the children's cafeterias are held about once a month, but this is not because the children's cafeterias function as a poverty alleviation measure, but because the children's cafeterias have unexpectedly brought together people, organizations, and institutions that would not normally be connected through such activities. The strength of the children's cafeteria lies in its openness and looseness, which has helped to rescue a segment of society that has fallen through the safety nets of existing businesses and government agencies.

Free Research Field

社会学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

社会全体のケアレス化（ケアを顧みない社会）が進む中で、地縁、血縁、社縁のいずれにも還元できない新しい人間関係や社会的つながりの形成における子ども食堂の重要性を示したことは学術的にも社会的にも大きな意義がある。