German sociologist Ulrich Beck’s concept of ‘Risk Society’ has recently been applied to
the study of education systems in Western countries. The application of this concept can
be classified into the following five categories: (1) ‘Risk’ as a positive concept in
education; (2) ‘Risk’ as a negative concept in education; (3) Risk, individualization and
education; (4) Risk, globalization and education; and (5) Risk, neoliberalism and
education. This paper is divided into two parts. Part I discusses Risk Society theory and
education under the above five categories in the case of the USA and Western Europe
(the West) drawing on the recently published work of several sociologists and
anthropologists. Part II is concerned with a discussion of the same five categories in the
case of Japan. While there are certainly similarities in the way the debate on education
reform is framed, the transformation of social issues into individual problems that one
often finds in Western countries is not so evident in Japan with teachers, parents and
education bureaucrats still preferring to see problems through the lens of group
responsibilities and traditional relationships between young people and their adult
superiors.
引用
CRR Discussion Paper, Series A, No. A-11, pp. 1-29
Education and Risk : The Application of Risk Society Theory to the Study of Education Systems in Europe, America and Asia
A11Aspinall201407.pdf
(311.98KB)
