著者

住田 正樹

出版者

日本教育社会学会

雑誌

教育社会学研究 (ISSN:03873145)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.74, pp.93-109, 2004-05-20

被引用文献数

1

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The aim of this paper is to provide an outline of the clinical sociology of education, with the aim of solving educational problems and to think about the effectiveness of "belonging" for problems involving children. The author takes up children's problems as one example of educational problems, from the viewpoint of the clinical sociology of education. In recent years, many difficult educational problems have arisen, and the sociology of education needs to carry out useful studies for solving these problem. Consequently, the clinical sociology of education has attracted the attention of many researchers. This is because it aims to actually solve educational problems in a different from the sociology of education, which aims to acquire scientific knowledge. The sociology of education focuses on science, while the clinical sociology of education places weight on practice. Therefore research from the perspective of the clinical sociology of education should be useful for solving actual educational problems. The defining characteristic of the methodology of the clinical sociology of education is intervention in actual educational problems. It attempts to solve actual educational problems through interventions. Therefore, the author argues that it is necessary to limit the object of the clinical sociology of education to fields where the scientist and practitioner can actually intervene. In other words, the field of the clinical sociology of education should be limited to the dimensions of interpersonal relations and groups. This means that the clinical sociology of education takes the individual in social context as the unit of analysis. There are various patterns of problem behavior among children. Whatever form it takes, however, negative self-definition is a common feature. Therefore, such children always suffer from undefined anxieties about themselves. Children adopt problem behavior as means to escape from these anxieties. Children must redefine themselves in order to overcome such problem behavior. The negative self-definition of the child is changed into an active, affirmative one. That is the intervention of the researcher and practitioner. Here, it is "belonging" that prompts the beginning of the child's self redefinition. "Belonging" means a gathering of similar children. Therefore, it indicates a place where the child can feel at ease, relaxed, free and can become calm. Therefore, (1) "belonging" acts as a self-help group and (2) "belonging" refers to a place where children can speak freely. Therefore, it is a clinical place where the researcher and practitioner can actually intervene. Children redefine themselves in the place where they belong, and can experience self-reconfirmation and rediscovery. This self-redefinition is the solution to children's problems, and it is the goal of the clinical sociology of education.