Formation and Change of the Life-Structure Studies in the 1910s-1930s

2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 14310092
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 社会学(含社会福祉関係)
• Research Institution: Fukuoka Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: TASHIRO Eimi Fukuoka Prefectural University, Faculty of Integrated Human Studies and Social Sciences, Assistant Professor, 人間社会学部, 助教授 (80155069)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): UEDA Misae Kurume University, Faculty of Literature, Former Professor, 文学部, 非常勤講師 (60142626) ; SATO Shigemi Fukuoka Prefectural University, Faculty of Integrated Human Studies and Social Sciences, Assistant, 助手 (80254647)
• Project Period (FY): 2002 – 2004
• Keywords: life-structure / social work / Ohara Magosaburo

Research Abstract

The purpose of this project is to clarify the characteristics and the problems of the life-structure studies in the 1910s - 1930s., focusing on Ohara Institute for Social Research founded by Ohara Magosaburo.
1.Investigation about the life-structure in Ohara Institute for Social Research can be recognized as the change - process - analysis of the modern working class life. It emphasized that the working class has its own subject and critical judgement against social structure, trying to introduce this view to its theoretical framework. The problem is that it failed to find the method to analyze the intermediary between macro level and micro level phenomena.
2.Although lively discussion about the nature of social work was held in this period, it had little influence over social work practice, in which paternalism was predominant. On the assumption that the main subject of social work is poverty, the necessity of the life-structure concept was not fully recognized.
3.Ohara Magosaburo is distinguished as a manager who brought his spinning company to a big one and founded some museums and institutes of social science which aimed to overcome social problems. To understand his thought, we must trace back to the management method of the Oharas, one of the large landowners. In conclusion, the Oharas' behavioral style is characterized by Confucian rationalism, which Ohara Magosaburo inherited.