視点と史料構成について  [in Japanese] On the Viewpoint and the Historical Data  [in Japanese]

What is the historical data in the sociological viewpoint? I don't think that we see the data there in the natural form. The data doesn't exist without the viewpoint of the researcher. The data are produced in the light of viewpoint. If we show the data without its context, the data doesn't tell any story. They must be related to each other, and be constructed in a fixed viewpoint. On the one hand, the viewpoint lights up the historical data, and on the other hand, the data defines the viewpoint. The historical data are produced by the light of viewpiont, and then in turn, the data tells the story and influence the viewpoint. When a new field of view comes into sight, one can find new data, and re-construct the historical data. The method of the sociological study of educational history, I think, should be such a dynamic spiralling cycle. This is the possibility and the effectiveness of the sociological study of educational history, I think. It arranges the various data in a framework of institution (norm or HABITUS of life), or in the social structure at that age. The works of the historical research by the sociologists, of education in Japan, so far, have set the viewpoint at some peripheral or outside region of education, such as RISSHIN-SHUSSE, women, the elite, or educational degree (GAKUREKI). Now, it is necessary to focus the viewpoint at the more inner process of schooling, such as lives and content of studies in school, and the life structure of children in the family or community. Also the method of study, so far, has tended to be too manipulative, or conceptual. It might be rewarding to describe the real lives of people involved in educational processes more vividly.