大正期の生活改善同盟会における「社会教育」の位置づけ : 生活改善運動における対象の「下方拡大」をめぐって

The Position of “Adult Education” in the Union of Life-Improvement in the Taisho Era : About the “downward extension” in the movement for life-improvement

Hisai Eisuke

広島大学大学院教育学研究科紀要. 第三部, 教育人間科学関連領域

Bulletin of the Graduate School of Education, Hiroshima University. Part 3, Education and human science

The movement for life-improvement in the Taisho era in Japan was based on the life style of the upper part of new middle class in terms of style of movement and in terms of budgetary condition of living. However, this movement had the potentiality to cross the border between social classes. First, its ideal model of living was not totally consistent; it was the amalgam of secular moralism and life modernism, and manifested itself as an enumerative list of items for life-improvement. Second, this movement was based not only on the “union” of practitioners which was mostly consist of the upper part of new middle class, but also on the ideal of “adult education”.　　

On the other hand, the movement for life-improvement was criticized because of its class-based characteristic. These criticisms were often expressed as contempt for the "upper class" (not for the "upper part of new middle class") by journalism. This type of criticism was based on traditional secular moralism in Japan. This movement had the potentiality of “downward extension” in terms of social class, but the “barrier” around the movement was also recognized.

adult education

movement for life-improvement

social class

社会教育

生活改善運動

社会階層

Education [ 370 ]

jpn

広島大学大学院教育学研究科

[ISSN] 1346-5562

[NCID] AA11625039