Industrial sociology

Japanese: 産業社会学 - さんぎょうしゃかいがく（英語表記）industrial sociology

A branch of sociology that focuses on the consciousness of employees working in companies in the secondary and tertiary industrial sectors, examining their behavioral patterns, the various human relationships among them, corporate culture, and the relationships with the various social spheres surrounding companies.

Industrial sociology was established as an academic field with a theoretical framework to replace scientific management, focusing on the importance of employee morale and the informal groups they organized through the Hawthorne Experiments conducted in the United States by G. E. Mayo and others in the 1920s. In Japan as well, after World War II, there was active research and study of informal groups formed within corporate organizations and employee morale, and progress has been made in elucidating the unique characteristics of Japanese employees' motivation to work and corporate culture. As Japan is currently transforming into a highly industrialized society, the main issues that industrial sociology is tackling are as follows:

[Kohei Homma]

Key Issues

(1) With regard to companies and management organizations, issues have been clarified regarding the collective character of Japanese companies as a kind of community, and issues such as the seniority-based system, lifetime employment system, and approval system that support this character. Currently, efforts are being made to transform organizations into more flexible and fluid ones that can adapt to changes in the environment, and measures are being sought to make organizations more dynamic, such as by providing leadership training to managers, abolishing the department system, improving organizational structure by forming project teams, institutionalizing the delegation of authority, and introducing a management by objectives system.

(2) As for the problem of human relations in the workplace, it has become clear that human relations in Japanese workplaces are developed in an extremely complex way, on the premise that people relate to each other as people who know each other very well. Small groupism has been put forward as a countermeasure that has attracted attention in the process of advanced industrialization, taking into account such human relations. Small groupism satisfies both collectivism and individualism, and as a means of achieving harmony between the two, measures such as the Zero Defect Movement, QC (Quality Control) Circles, job enlargement, and small group self-management have become the focus of attention.

(3) The realities of the lives and attitudes of employed workers can only be seen when they are taken up as issues for the parties under management. As for employed workers in the process of advanced industrialization, along with their sense of monotony and alienation, attention has been focused on the problem of their work attitudes. While they accept the ideal of labor as an ideal, they are placed in a situation in which they cannot pursue opportunities for autonomy in their actual workplace life, and as a result, they are strengthening their inclination toward opportunities for solidarity. Also, facing a situation in which the tendency to deny skill in labor is inevitable, they seek to maintain and strengthen a collaborative system and, within that, are trying to pursue opportunities for autonomy.

(4) Regarding labor unions and labor-management relations, the labor movement has developed as enterprise unions, and the question of how to evaluate the enterprise organizational form in light of the essence of labor unions has come to light. In addition, the reality has come to light that labor union organizational activities are in an inverted triangle shape, with labor unions' regulatory power not reaching the workplaces at the grassroots level. Moreover, due to the nature of such labor unions, labor-management relations are inevitably confined within the boundaries of the company, and it is difficult to foster a view of labor-management relations in which there is an insurmountable gap between labor and management. Therefore, as it becomes more difficult to enlarge the pie, the response of labor unions to important issues surrounding labor-management relations, such as participation in management, is becoming an issue.

(5) With regard to issues of industry and society, given the reality that at the local community level, the rise and fall of a company is in itself a problem for the local community, the transformation of local communities with local industries and modern industrial cities, as well as the relationship between coastal petrochemical complexes and local communities, are being brought to the table. Attention is being paid to how employed workers should be dealt with, both as a source of vitality for companies as places of work and as a source of vitality for the local community as a place of life.

[Kohei Homma]

"Introduction to Industrial Sociology" by Kohei Homma et al. (Yuhikaku Shinsho) " "Lectures on Industrial Sociology" by Kunio Odaka (1981, Iwanami Shoten) " "Industry and Society: An Introduction to Industrial Sociology" by S.R. Parker et al., translated by Shigeru Juri (1973, Shakai Shisosha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

第二次産業部門や第三次産業部門の企業で働いている雇用従業者の意識構造に焦点をあてて、彼らの行動様式、彼らの間のさまざまな人間関係、企業文化、さらに企業を取り巻く各種の社会領域との関連などを研究の対象とする社会学の一部門。

　産業社会学は、1920年代にG・E・メーヨーらがアメリカで行ったホーソン実験を通じて、雇用従業者のモラール（志気）や彼らの組織するインフォーマル・グループの重要性に注目し、科学的管理法にかわる理論的枠組みを備えた学問領域として確立した。日本でも、第二次世界大戦後、企業組織内部に形成されるインフォーマル・グループや雇用従業者のモラールをめぐる調査や研究が盛んに行われ、雇用従業者の勤労意欲や企業風土の日本的特質の解明が進められてきた。高度工業化社会へ変貌(へんぼう)を遂げつつある現在、産業社会学が取り組んでいる主要な課題は次のとおりである。

［本間康平］

主要課題

(1)企業と経営組織に関しては、日本の企業のもつ一種のコミュニティとしての集団特性やそれを支える年功序列制度、終身雇用制度、稟議(りんぎ)制度などの問題が解明されてきたが、現在では、環境の変化に適応できる柔軟で流動的な組織への転換が模索され、管理者に対するリーダーシップ訓練、課制の廃止、プロジェクト・チームの編成などの組織構造の改善や権限委譲の制度化、目標管理制度の導入といった形で、組織の動態化の方策が問われている。

(2)職場の人間関係の問題としては、日本の職場集団における人間関係が、お互いを知り尽くした人間として関係しあうことを前提とした、きわめて複雑な形で展開されていることが明らかにされている。このような人間関係を踏まえた形で、高度工業化の過程で注目されている対応策として打ち出されているのが小集団主義である。小集団主義は集団主義と個人主義の双方を満足させ、両者の調和を図るものとして、ZD運動（無欠点運動）、QC（品質管理）サークル、職務拡大、小集団自主管理などの方策が関心の的になっている。

(3)雇用従業者の生活や意識の実態は、管理される側の当事者の問題として取り上げられるときに、初めて本音の姿がとらえられる。高度工業化の過程での雇用従業者については、彼らのもつ単調感や疎外感とともに、仕事意識の問題として、彼らが、労働の理念を理念として受け止めながら、現実の職場生活のなかでは自律性の契機を追求できない状況に置かれているため、結果として連帯性の契機への傾斜を強めていること、そして、労働における熟練を否定する傾向が避けられない事態を迎えて、協働体制の維持強化を求め、そのなかで自律性の契機を追求しようとしていることに関心が集まっている。

(4)労働組合と労使関係に関しては、企業別労働組合として発展してきた労働運動を前提として、企業別という組織形態を労働組合の本質と照らしてどう評価するかという問題とともに、労働組合の組織活動が逆三角形になり、末端部分の職場に労働組合としての規制力が及んでいない実態が明るみに出されている。そして、このような労働組合の性質上、労使関係はいやおうなく企業の枠内に閉じ込められ、労使間に越えがたい溝が存在するという形の労使関係観は育ちにくい。そのため、パイを大きくしにくくなるにつれて、経営参加その他の労使関係をめぐる重大問題に対する労働組合側の対応が問題にされている。

(5)産業と社会の問題としては、地域社会のレベルでは企業の盛衰がとりもなおさず地域社会の問題として跳ね返ってくる現実を踏まえて、地場産業を抱えた地域社会や近代的な工業都市などの変貌、さらに臨海コンビナートと地域社会の関連が俎上(そじょう)にのせられ、雇用従業者が、労働の場としての企業の活力源として、かつ、生活の場としての地域社会の活力源として、どのように対処するかが関心の的になっている。

［本間康平］

『本間康平他著『産業社会学入門』（有斐閣新書）』▽『尾高邦雄著『産業社会学講義』（1981・岩波書店）』▽『S・R・パーカー他著、寿里茂訳『産業と社会――産業社会学序説』（1973・社会思想社）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例

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