教育社会学における歴史研究-ブームと危うさ-  [in Japanese] The Boom and Coming Crisis of Historical Studies in Japanese Sociology of Education  [in Japanese]

The field of historical sociology boomed in popularity in America and England from the late 1970's on into the 1980's. The same boom took place in Japan ten years later, beginning in the late 1980's. In Japan, however, this was more the work of scholars in sociology of education than it was of sociologists. Six of the seven articles in the "Journal of Educational Sociology" No.56 (1995) are based on historical studies. The surge of historical studies in sociology of education can be explained by the fact that scholars in this field have in the past done more historical research of quality than have sociologists in Japan. In this paper I discuss why historical studies in sociology of education have had such an extensive influence on other disciplines such as sociology and history of education. In recent years, however, historical studies are being conducted in sociology, and the studies in history of education are being informed with sociological theory and a socio-historical perspective. Scholars doing historical studies in sociology of education now have competition and are slowly losing their dominance in the field. Furthermore, their work in historical studies is being hampered by the re-structuring in education departments of recent years. Educational sciences, including sociology of education, are being departmentalized under "policy relevant" sciences. In these ways, scholars in sociology of education doing historical studies are facing a crisis. I conclude this paper with several suggestions for coping with this coming crisis.