著者

間山 広朗

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.70, pp.145-163, 2002-05-15 (Released:2011-03-18)

参考文献数

33

被引用文献数

7 5

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“Ijimesuicide”(or suicide caused by bullying) has been one of the most serious problems in Japanese primary and secondary schools since the late 1970s. The problem hasbeen widely studied in Japan. Generally speaking, the prevailing view is that thoughbullying has always existed, the situation of children committing suicide because of bullying is getting worse.Against this prevailing view, some scholars in the field of the sociology of education claim that “ijimesuicides” existed in the past, andbullying condition may not be getting worse, but what has happened is that people have become more sensitive. In other words, they refer to the social condition itself. However, ifwe strictly observe the methodological standard of social constructionism, the bracketing of the ontological status of “social problems, ” we must conclude that they are making an error of “ontological gerrymandering.”We may have a tendency to regardijimeas bullying. However, according to Jeff Coulter, To claim that ‘X’ is the same action ascan mean creating a connection between them rather than simply recording a pre-existing relationship. We may misunderstand the property of our description. According to Peter Winch, the human activity we study is carried on according to rules. Therefore, we need to study the rulefollowing discourse of “ijimesuicide” carefully.I would claim that “ijimesuicide” does not exist until people learn ofthis term and the discourse. This is not an empirical, but rather a conceptual problem. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to solve this problems and explain “ijimesuicide” itself analytically by focusing on the discourse involved, and then to indicate the possibility that a discursive reformation can dissolve“ijimesuicide.”