A Comparative Study on the Curriculum of Graduate Education : Japan and the United States

我们调查了美国和日本的研究生课程，特别强调社会学。本研究采用多方法的研究方法，进行了访谈研究、课堂观察、文献调查和问卷调查。研究生项目实际工作的多样性虽然项目本身的顺序有相当高的一致性（即。例如，课程作业，资格考试，论文），我们可以发现在研究生课程的实际工作中有很大的多样性。“核心”的存在与其他事物的差异“理论”、“方法”、“统计”，似乎构成了未来社会学家的核心知识与技能。然而，在理论和实证方法的内容上存在很大的差异。研究生课程设置多样化的背景是存在着各种类型的争论，包括理论和意识形态的争论。然而，在许多部门，定量方法的要求似乎正在成为他们的计划标准化和结构化的力量。在学科、部门和个人的激烈生存斗争中，数量型的知识和技能将发挥有用的作用。这些发现表明，日本的学者和教育工作者以及高级官员应该更多地关注研究生课程的形式结构，而不是系统的实际运作。我们应该避免最坏意义上的强制性和模仿性同构，应该建立足够强大的专业社区来抵制这些趋势。

We have investigated graduate programs in the United States and Japan with special emphasis on sociology. Adopting multi-method approach, we have carried out interview research, class room observation, and ducument survey, as well as questionnaire survey.The following are some of our findings :1. Diversity in the actual working of graduate programWhile there is a fairly high degree of uniformity in the sequence of the program itself (i. e., coursework, qualifying exminations, dissertation), we can find a great diversity in the actual working of the graduate program.2. Existence of "core" and diversity in other mattersIt seems that "theory", "method", and "statistics" comprises the core knowledge and skills for the would-be sociologists. Yet, there is a great diversity in the content of theory and empirical approaches.3. Backgroud of uniformity and diversityVarious types of controversies including theoretical and ideological ones exist as background of the diversity of the graduate programs and curricula. In many departments, however, requirements of quantitative methods seem to be functioning as a force for standardization and structuration of theie programs. Knoweldge and skills of quantitative kinds will work as a useful device in the severe struggle for survival at the disciplinary, departmental, and individual levels.These findings suggest that Japanese scholars and educators, as well as administrators at the high offices, should pay more attention not to the formal structure of the graduate program, but to the actual working of the system. We should avoid coercive and mimetic isomorphism in the worst sense and should establish professional community strong enough to counteract these tendencies.