Takehiko Kariya

Abstract This essay examines how universities in non-Western, non-English-speaking countries respond to global competition in higher education, where English has become dominant due to “linguistic imperialism.” I pose critical questions about how these institutions can not only endure but thrive amid global competition, and whether intensified global competition has improved the quality of education. Focusing on Japan, I explore both successful and challenging aspects of globalization in its institutions of higher education. While Japan achieved success in adapting during the late nineteenth century, the emphasis on learning foreign languages, including English, diminished after World War II. The Japanese case illustrates the complex trade-offs between ensuring educational equity and global competitiveness, and highlights the evolving dynamics and challenges faced by universities as well as policymakers in non-English-speaking countries in the global higher-education landscape.

In this paper, the possibility that empirical research in the sociology of educa- tion can be related to the policy process is discussed using the process and results of the MEXT-commissioned research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. One of the references is evidence-based policy making（EBPM）, which has been used in the policy field for the past 20 to 30 years. How- ever, EBPM has already been subject to various criticisms in Europe and the U.S., where it was first discussed. Against the backdrop of such criticisms, discussions have begun to rethink the possibility of using research knowledge more flexibly than EBPM, which emphasizes strict causal relationships. This paper also discusses evidence-informed policy making（EIPM）, which is a more gradual reinterpretation of EBPM. Specifically, we will present three issues that have been shared among us through the practice and discussion of such policy research:（1）the role of re- searchers in evidence formation,（2）attention to the heterogeneity of treatment effects, and（3）the significance of exploratory evidence collection. The first concerns the role of researchers in evidence formation. In working with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology（MEXT） on this policy research, we were able to add features to the research that would not have been possible had they worked separately. This points to the importance of the cooperative relationship between administrative officials and researchers. Second, we discuss the focus on the heterogeneity of treatment effects. Sociology, which emphasizes social context, has a strength in focusing on the heterogeneity of effects across groups rather than on average treatment effects, which are emphasized in statistical causal inference. We present this through the analysis of the survey data on school events and others under the COVID-19 pandemic. Third, we discuss the significance of exploratory evidence collection. In a sudden situation such as the COVID-19 crisis, it is sometimes more important to understand the actual situation accurately, even if only by groping, than to formulate a hypothesis in advance and make causal inferences. Using the results of a descriptive analysis of student learning and the response of the school board during the school closure, we will show that even an exploratory method can provide effective evidence. Finally, we will show the potential of EIPM, especially EIPM that incorporates the process of mutual learning among administrators and researchers（“intelligent policy making”）, which can utilize various research findings in policy making, rather than EBPM, which focuses only on strict causal inference.

Abstract Sociologists have long used credential inflation theory to explain the devaluation of tertiary education degrees as the consequence of the excessive supply of educated personnel. However, the literature has inadequately examined two fundamental conditions: the combination of degrees/skills that individuals possess and the level of degrees. In this article, cross-country multilevel regressions reveal lower-level degrees (i.e. short-cycle tertiary) are devalued due to the larger extent of lower-level tertiary expansion in a society, regardless of degree holders’ skills level. This is consistent with the concept of credential inflation. In contrast, alongside the proliferation of higher-level tertiary education (i.e. bachelor and above), individuals with such degrees are penalized only when they lack high skills. Put differently, higher-level degree holders retain their rewards despite their diminishing scarcity as long as they possess high skills. Meanwhile, high skills unaccompanied by tertiary degrees lose their premium merely in connection with lower-level tertiary expansion. These results suggest credentialism is intensified and credential inflation operates in societies where the extent of lower-level tertiary expansion is relatively large, whereas ‘decredentialization’ emerges along with the larger extent of higher-level tertiary expansion in a way that devalues credentials as such whilst relatively enhancing the role of skills in reward allocation.

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A number of advanced countries, including Japan, are conducting neo-liberal education reforms such as the decentralization and devolution of control over education, privatization, school choice, and national testing. In addition, economic globalization and the rise of the "knowledge-based" economy may make education an important arena of socio-economic policy as governments seek to enhance human capital and individuals' employability, and to provide equal opportunity in life chances. In this paper, I argue that those changes promote a shift of human capital formation toward the rise of "learning capitalism". In Japan, especially, this shift coincides with the transformation from the "Japanese Mode of Credential Society" to the "Learning Capitalist Society", where learning skills and competences become core mechanisms to form, accumulate, and arrange human capital. Previously, under the Japanese mode of credential society, career paths were seen as simple and straightforward. Success in entrance examinations was thought to be the main route to enter good schools and universities, then to get into good workplaces and lead happy lives. Being good at memorizing school knowledge was seen a key factor for this success story. Upon getting into good jobs, which usually meant working for large companies, employees from prestigious universities were given more opportunities to pursue advancement. Their learning skills, sometimes called "trainability", might have played an important role behind the scenes, but their importance was not clearly recognized. The Japanese mode of credential society changed and declined during the 1990s. This transformation was caused by changes in labor markets and in education. Acquiring learning skills and competences took the place of memorizing knowledge. Now both in the workplace and in school, people are expected to master advanced learning skills and competences to keep up with rapid changes in technology and society. People are also required to pursue lifelong learning. In addition, they are expected to become 'clever' investors in choosing what, how, and when they should learn in order to maximize their human capital. In other words, learning skills and competences have become "capital" in this society. However, the distribution of learning skills and competences among students is not equal. In the paper, using survey results, I show that they are unequally distributed among children from different family backgrounds. I then argue that the recent decentralization of education funding and neo-liberal education reforms such as the introduction of voucher systems will increase inequality in learning capital accumulation.

What kind of sociological knowledge is transmitted in college education? Introductory textbooks on sociology represent its identity as a discipline. In this paper, I analyze the contents of introductory sociology textbooks in Japan and the United States from a comparative perspective. I find different degrees of institutionalization or standardization of sociological knowledge between the two countries. Japanese textbooks cover fewer fields of sociological research and the demarcation between the different fields is weaker in Japan than it is in the United States, i.e., the textbooks are less standardized in Japan.<BR>I argue that these differences are derived from the different educational contexts of college education in these two societies. Japanese textbooks are increasingly shifting toward “perspective-oriented” knowledge from explanations of sociological concepts or theories. This tendency further reduces the standardization of sociological knowledge imparted in Japanese colleges. Finally, I raise a question about the direction Japanese sociological knowledge production will take and the extent to which this knowledge production is influenced by the changing styles of reproducing knowledge.

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記事種別: 書評

記事種別: 書評

資料形態 : テキストデータ プレーンテキスト コレクション : 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション > デジタル化資料 > 雑誌

In the field of the sociological study of educational attainment, inequality due to socioeconomic status has long been a major theme. Many theories have been proposed to explain such inequalities: heredity, cultural deprivation, linguistic socialization, anti-school culture, and cultural capital. Most of these theories, which emerged from the West, emphasize differences in ability or preschool-family socialization depending on SES (socioeconomic status). Based on empirical analyses of the study hours of Japanese high school students, this study attempts to challenge these Western theoretical traditions by introducing a theory of inequality of effort.<BR>This study uses two survey data sets of 11th graders in 11 Japanese high schools: one was collected in 1979, and the other in 1997, using questionnaires with the same questions. Using these two data sets, the after-school study hours of students are compared between the two periods, and the influences of socioeconomic status on study hours are also examined. Cross tabulation analysis, comparing means of study hours, and regression analyses are conducted. The results of these analyses show that study hours decreased over the 18 years, that the degree of decrease differed among different SES groups, and that the effect of SES has increased over the 18 years, after controlling other variables.<BR>Based on these findings, we argue that inequality of effort contributes to the inequality of educational attainment, that the effect of SES is dependent on educational situations, such as the reduction in the pressure of “exam hell” which has been caused by a decline of young people's population and education reform, and that even in Western societies, inequality of effort may be involved in inequalities of educational attainment. We contend that the ideology of meritocracy, particularly the Japanese version of it with its strong emphasis on effort, successfully conceals a reality of unequal educational attainment by assuming an equal distribution of efforts.