近代日本における資格制度と工業化-電気事業主任技術者検定制度の導入過程に着目して-  [in Japanese] The Qualification System and Industrialization Modern Japan : A Case Study of "Chief Engineers in Electric Enterprises"  [in Japanese]

The purpose of this paper is to suggest another view of qualifications by clarifying the meaning of qualifications for practical engineers. Other studies have focused only on the qualifications that enabled holders to gain appointments, without considering the requirements of the posts. However, they couldn't explain the fact that some qualified people could get posts, but others could not. I wonder why a lot of people competed for getting qualifications which could not always offer them posts? Therefore, I take up the electric industry, one of the most important key industries, and focus on the expectations of practical engineers for the qualification that was required in order to become chief engineers of electrical enterprises. The material sources I used here are electrical magazines and "Survey of Electrical Enterprises". I used them to clarify what kind of jobs chief engineers were, and the distribution of educational qualifications among chief engineers. The data shows that graduates from private technical schools or lower level school careers became chief engneers mainly in smaller enterprises that made up about 90% of that industry. In spite of the oversupply of qualifications, lower level school career and the people who had only lower level qualification were not excluded from the post of chief engineer. Their main job was only to check the electrical machinery to prevent serious accidents, so academic engineers were not attracted to the posts of chief engineers. On the other hand, practical engineers were fascinated. It is true that they were just cogs in the machine, but these positions gave them a satisfactory salary and the status of regular staff.