Iwanami Lecture Series on Sociology Vol.8 Iryo, Care, Shogai (Medicine, Care and Disability)

This book brings together sociological studies on care, disability, and medicine that began to take shape in the 2000s and were later developed through the publication of many monographs by younger scholars. Many of the contributors to this volume are now in their mid-40s to 50s and are moving from mid-career to senior positions. One of the main features of this volume is that it provides a broad overview of what are often called the “sociology of care” and “disability studies,” relatively new fields that emerged from the accumulation of field-based monographic studies from the late 1990s through the 2000s and that have since shaped the direction of research in this area. The chapters included in this volume consist of revised parts of earlier monographs, papers that revisit the original research questions in light of later developments, reconstructed versions of previously published articles, and newly written chapters in which the authors discuss key issues in this field from their specific research perspective.
 
Part I comprises monographic studies that focus on concrete phenomena in specific field settings. Readers interested in interactions within care settings may wish to begin with this section. Part II overlaps with the academic field that developed in connection with the disability studies movement and will be of interest to both readers concerned with practical issues such as reasonable accommodation and those interested in theoretical concepts such as intersectionality. Part III turns to longer historical perspectives and examines how care has been positioned within society as a whole, approaching the fields of medicine, care, and disability not only through micro-level interactions but also within a broader social context.
 
In line with the overall aim of this series, this volume brings together careful empirical research, as well as discussions of the concepts and theories that support such research. The accumulation of this research also has the potential to lead us to reconsider sociological concepts, such as ableism and communication. However, these questions cannot be fully addressed within the framework of empirical research alone. In the development of this field, there has also been an important line of research that sought to rethink the nature of society by focusing on the lives of people with disabilities. The work of the late Shinya Tateiwa, which began with a research project that led to Sei no Gihō (The Art of Living), has had a significant influence on encouraging many researchers to enter this field. Simultaneously, Tateiwa pursued a distinctive line of sociology that diverged from the trajectory of empirical research, addressing issues such as private property, ableism, and the relationship between markets and distribution. Building on the accumulation of empirical research presented in this volume, it is important to develop this field further with an awareness of this intellectual lineage.
 
In recent years, related fields have seen new developments, including a growing interest in care ethics in the humanities and anthropological studies of care that examine relationships not only among humans but also with non-human actors, such as objects and environments. Therefore, it is important to open this stream of research, which took shape within sociology in the 2000s, to dialogue with other disciplines. I hope this book will be read with these issues and possibilities in mind.
 

(Written by IGUCHI Takashi, Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology / 2026)