Kwansei Gakuin University Institute for Advanced Social Research

●History

Established at Kwansei Gakuin University in April 2008, the Institute for Advanced Social Research (IASR) works to achieve the goals set by the 21st-century COE Program—Study of “Social Research for the Enhancement of Human Well-being” toward “Creating a Society that Values Cultural Diversity.”

For five years beginning in the fiscal year of 2003, the Program explored the implications of social research upon social and human welfare in the 21st century and, for that purpose, reviewed scientific concepts, thoughts, philosophies, ethics, and methods. Namely, it was a social research on social research. The participating researchers, consisting chiefly of Kwansei Gakuin University’s faculty of Sociology and Social Work, collaborated in developing the principles and methods of research, in constructing data archives, and based on the research findings, in making proposals to policy planning and implementation. While so doing, they contributed to joint projects of comparative study that lay great emphasis on locality and contexts with national and international institutions. The Program attached equal importance to the training of postgraduate and postdoctoral students and support of their research. Moreover, under the Program, Social Science Shop, alias S-cube (S3), was launched in April 2006 as a base of networks for exchange of information, and human and cultural capitals, which embraced the Kwansei Gakuin University, local communities, and the civil society. For the full results of the 21st-century COE Program, please refer to 21st Century COE Program Final Report (1) "Achievements and Prospectives," and for the relationship between the Progarm and the IASR, Final Report (2) "Post-COE and the IASR."

Based on the achievements of the 21st-century COE Program, the IASR proposes to become an international center for education and research in sociology and social work through the following activities:

●Research

The IASR frames, coordinates, and implements interdisciplinary collective research, which explores various social problems arising out of globalization with the other and alterity as key concepts. Globalization has been producing new patterns of suffering, which are not explicable within the existing frameworks of conventional sociology. The objectives of the IASR-led research into the other and alterity are to critically reflect upon the relevance of the current scientific concepts, research methods, and theoretical frameworks, and to present the alternatives for the emergent problems in the modern globalizing world drawing on concrete case studies. While collecting and analyzing new ethnographic and empirical data for these objectives, the IASR also arranges, indexes, archives, and databases the existing qualitative and quantitative data so as to encourage research and publication across disciplines and methodologies.

Since its inception in 2008, the IASR has organized researchers from within and beyond the Kwansei Gakuin University into the joint research project—Societies Forged by Wars. For more information concerning the project, please click here or the banner on the Main Page, "Joint Research."

●Education

The IASR serves to the training of postgraduate and postdoctoral students in order that they become capable of planning and enacting original and advanced research, and presenting and publishing their research findings nationally and internationally. The IASR’s postgraduate seminars are intended to promote interdisciplinary research and discussion across the students’ affiliated schools and programs. The Institute gives public lectures and workshops inviting academic and non-academic speakers and instructors, including non-Kwansei Gakuin University scholars, the representatives of governmental and non-governmental offices, and social activists.

●Practice

The IASR undertakes research in response to the needs of various communities, including civic groups, NGOs, NPOs, and like. Through symposia, town meetings, and publications, the Institute not only feeds back the research findings to the communities but also acts as a hub of networks of civic engagement and as a moderator of dialogues between the academia and the communities.