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Department of Humanities and Social Sciences - Undergraduate program in Social and International relations

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Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Course

The Interdisciplinary Social Sciences course continues and expands the course offerings and research activities of the previous Department of Social Relations, established in 1978. The objective of this course is to reach an integrated understanding of social phenomena in the contemporary world through studying scholarship in the basic fields of social sciences, that is, law, politics, economics, society and culture, across disciplinary divides. Pursuing "Liberal Arts in an age of globalization," this Course seeks to open up new dimensions at the cutting edge of research in these transformative times.

Advantages gained from conducting social scientific research in an interdisciplinary setting include the following:

  1. Many cutting-edge questions and new thematic clusters generated by the societal transformations currently in process are difficult, or impossible, to approach from within the disciplinary constraints imposed by a rigid division of scholarship into separate fields. Critical awareness of such problems, however, needs to be developed instead of being blocked in. This course, already in its previous institutional form as the Department of Social Relations, was among the first to produce substantial research in areas such as environmental concerns, gender and feminist studies, or challenges and dilemmas of the information society.
  2. Connection and integration of fields that tend to be neglected or considered peripheral in scholarship marked by strict division into traditional disciplines. Social Thought / Public Philosophy (combining such areas of study as political thought, philosophy of law, economic thought and the philosophy of religion), for example, is a field of study in existence nowhere else but Komaba. Other skills which can be acquired in this course include methods for social surveying and mathematical and statistical processing, including computer analysis, of diverse data sets spanning disciplinary divides.

Since subjects taught and researched in the Interdisciplinary Social Sciences vary widely, they are not easily summarized. However, the following are considered focal areas of research. (The corresponding course is given in parentheses):

  • Mechanisms of political policy in advanced industrial society (Theory of Societal Systems, Public Policy, etc.)
  • Policy Science (Interdisciplinary Social Sciences: Core course II, Environmental Social Science, etc.)
  • Comparative study of contemporary society and organizations (Theory of Contemporary Society I and II, etc.)
  • Region-wide analysis of contemporary economy (Contemporary Economics Seminar, Socio-economics, etc)
  • Public philosophy and civil society theory (Philosophy of Publicness, Social Thought Research, etc.)
  • Culture and social consciousness (Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Core course I, Theory of Social Consciousness, etc.)

The curriculum of the Interdisciplinary Social Sciences course stands out, compared to other undergraduate programs, for its relatively small number of required subjects leaving students considerable freedom of choice. All students can compile their personal course schedules in line with their own research ideas and interests. Moreover, since in the majority of classes the number of students is small, one distinguishing feature of this Course, setting it apart from others, is that the teacher-student relationships is close and interaction between students lively.

Furthermore, in terms of applied and practical training in the Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, social surveys in local communities are carried out. From the time of the previous Department of Social Relations up until now, surveys have been implemented in, among others, the towns of Oguni (Kumamoto prefecture) and Yamato (Niigata prefecture), Kobe City (Hyogo prefecture), and Setagaya Ward (Tokyo Metropolitan area). The results of these surveys are published as research reports. A great number of students participate in these surveys through regular courses (i.e. "Analysis of Local Societies," "Analysis of Local Societies: Seminar," and "Analysis of Local Societies: Practicum"), and are assigned the task of writing research reports. For participants, this constitutes both a valuable research experience and an opportunity for more casual social interaction with their peers.

Since 2009, graduates of this Course may additionally be awarded a qualification as "social survey specialist," recognized by the Japanese Association for Social Survey, if they complete a number of required courses, which include participation in a social survey. (This qualification can also be obtained in the Sociology Course of the Faculty of Letters and the Comparative Educational and Social Studies Course of the Faculty of Education.)

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[Courses]
| Interdisciplinary Social Sciences | International Relations |
For matters common to both Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and International Relations, please refer to the International Relations course introductory page.

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