受験競争をめぐる研究の系譜・死角・展望 --戦後日本の教育社会学史を読みなおす--

Abstract

本論文の目的は，教育社会学における受験競争に関する研究の系譜を跡づけ，残された課題を示し，現代における受験研究の新たな可能性を展望することである．戦後日本において，学歴主義や学校問題をめぐる議論が立ち上がるなかで，学歴主義が受験競争を引き起こし，受験競争が教育荒廃を生じさせる，という認識が社会的にも学術的にも支配的になった．この「学歴主義→受験競争→教育荒廃」という問題図式が受験競争の問題性を自明化したことで，かえって受験競争を直接的に扱う研究は乏しくなった．他方で，そうした図式から距離を取り，受験競争という社会現象それ自体を研究することを試みた研究者に，受験体制論を提示した山村賢明と，受験の社会史的研究を行った竹内洋がいた．本論文ではそうした試みを継承して現代において受験現象を論じるにあたって，教育産業の台頭による受験の市場化に着目することを提案した．

This paper traces the trajectory of research regarding educational competition for entrance examinationswithin the field of sociology of education in Japan and opens new perspectives for future research byhighlighting previously neglected viewpoints. Intense competition for entrance examinations has beenregarded as a social problem in Japan. Competition for examinations was recognized to be provoked byeducational credentialism (gakureki-shugi) and has also been identified as a cause of various problemsamong children in schools. Ironically, this recognition led to a scarcity of research focusing directly oncompetition for examinations itself. We highlight the arguments of two researchers who distancedthemselves from such trends and dealt directly with examination competition as a social phenomenon, i.e., Yoshiaki Yamamura and Yo Takeuchi. Their insights held the potential to reframe the debates aroundcompetition for examinations, but since the turn of the century, the landscape of discourse in sociology ofeducation has shifted, pushing the issues of competition for examinations to the background. We arguefor the contemporary relevance of studying competition for examinations as a sociological researchsubject by presenting the perspective of the marketization of education by the educational business sector.