Published papers

This paper explores how educational studies can contribute to building a society in Japan that raises the level of happiness for more people by taking the place of business administration that does not pay sufficient attention to those at risk in “innovation society,” defined as a society where innovation advances at an accelerated rate and comes at significant cost among the vulnerable. The research first revealed that few representative innovation studies in business administration paid attention to vulnerable individuals. Examination of representative postmodern sociological studies showed that individuals whose happiness was taken away due to recent innovation in Japan were not originally those considered to be at risk, but instead were created by innovation society. It also revealed that responsibilities shouldered by the vulnerable are growing in today’s society, because personalization of responsibilities is advancing. Against the backdrop of these issues, this research examined how educational studies should be shaped today and how educators should look at the vulnerable. Findings led to concluding that future key issues are development of value judgment, self-determination, responsiveness to change, flexibility, and an attitude of lifelong learning. Additionally, expansion of the range of certain disciplines (philosophy of education, study of higher education, study of community education, andragogy, study of educational methods, study of school administration) was found to enable academic responses to key issues, while enhancement of educational eyes on the vulnerable in innovation society, by focusing on eliminating the view of uniform relative merit and formation of trust in society, would allow greater possibility of overcoming or alleviating issues of concern.