教育実践と教育社会学-教育社会学的研究のアクチュアリティ-  [in Japanese] Educational Practices and Sociology of Education  [in Japanese]

The purpose of this paper is to examine actual educational practices in Japan in relation to the field of sociology of education. This study will attempt to analyze whether the field of sociology of education contributes positively to actual educational practice in Japan, and if so, in what way. In the first part of this paper, I will examine the work that has already been done on the problems related to this topic. The main points of this study paper may be summarized as follows : (1) First, it is necessary that we study the educational practices so as to identify the sociology of education as a separate field from sociology ; (2) the two fields seem to be separated from educational realities in Japanese society; (3) the educational sociologist is expected to deconstruct strictly the process in which an "educational problem" is generally recognized as a "social problem"; and lastly, (4) the relation between the sociology of education and pedagogy is still ambiguous, that reseach findings do not contribute to influencing the educational practices in Japan in positive way. In my conclusion, I propose the three points so as to increase the "actuality" of the field of sociology of education. They are the following : (1) It is necessary that we make an effort to establish a new creative relation between the field of sociology of education and pedagogy at both the group and individual level. One example at group level are scholars such as Prof. H.Fujita, Prof. M.Satou, Prof. Y. Saeki, all of whom are professers at Tokyo University. E.Durkheim, who is the author of "The Theory of Moral Education", is an example of the individual. (2) The studies in ethnomethodology are effective in deepening young educational sociologst's understanding of the educational realities in Japan. (3) I will attempt to show a good model of the lecture in the field by taking the example of the educational sociolgist, a faculty member in the college of education, who tries to use every possible device for increasing the "awareness" of the sociology of education as a separate academic discipline.