A Study of the Formation of the Social Well-being Capabilities of Local, small Cities in Japan, and a New Standard far Evaluating That Capability

本研究的目的在于阐明“社区的社会福利能力”是如何在地方小规模城市中形成的；为此而存在的任务和可能性；并提出了评价社会福利能力的新标准。我们的研究集中在以下人口约为5万的城市：石kari（北海道），Noshiro（东北），Himi（北陆），Ayabe（近畿），Kudamatsu (Chugoku), Nangoku（四国），Hitoyoshi（九州）；并补充研究了冲绳伊藤曼岛的约南。我们用质量导向的方法研究了各个城市当局、他们的社会工作部门、地区协会、非营利组织和其他相关团体的政策和活动。我们的研究结果清楚地表明，在人口老龄化和人口减少的背景下，所有被调查的地方当局都在努力促进其居民的社会福祉，尽管由于地方公共资金不足，他们的努力无法取得更大的成功。然而，尽管这些困难的情况下，组织了各种非政府组织和志愿活动，通过这些活动，每个城市的居民自己促进社会福祉。很明显，在一些城市，由当地居民和地区福利专员组成的传统互助组织（chonaikai）承担了社区社会工作，尽管我们怀疑这种活动由于社区内部团结的削弱而受到限制。我们发现，对当地社区或地区（machi）的喜爱和自豪感是NPO和居民自助活动的共同特征。这种情感为当地社区内的相互团结提供了基础，是所谓“社会资本”的核心。地方当局在维持这种团结和各种自治居住组织之间在人力资源和财政方面的相互合作方面的作用，提出了一种评估“社区的社会福利能力”的新标准

The aim of our research is to clarify how "the social well-being capability of the community" is formed in local, small-scale cities ; the tasks and possibilities that exist for this ; and the proposal of a new standard for evaluating social well-being capability. Our research centres on the following cities all with a population of approximately 50,000 : Ishikari (Hokkaido), Noshiro (Tohoku), Himi (Hokuriku), Ayabe (Kinki), Kudamatsu (Chugoku), Nangoku (Shikoku), Hitoyoshi (Kyushu) ; with supplementary research on Jonan, Itoman (Okinawa). We studied the policies and activities of various city authorities, their social work departments, district associations (chonaikai), non-profit organizations and other related groups using a quality-oriented method.The results of our research clearly show that, against a backdrop of aging and decreasing populations, all the local authorities investigated are trying to promote social well-being amongst their residents, although their efforts cannot s … More ucceed due to the inadequacy of local public funding. Despite these difficult circumstances, however, various NPO and voluntary activities are organized through which the residents of each city promote social well-being themselves. It is also clear that, in some cities, traditional mutual-help organizations (chonaikai) made up of local residents, as well as district welfare commissioners take on community social work, although we suspect that this kind of activity is limited due to the weakening of solidarity within the community.We found that affection and pride in the local community or district (machi) was a common feature of NPO and residential self-help activity. Such sentiment provides the base for mutual solidarity within the local community, and is central to what is called 'social capital'. The role of local authorities in sustaining this kind of solidarity, and mutual collaboration amongst the various autonomous residential organizations, both in terms of human resources and finance, suggests a new standard by which to evaluate "the social well-being capability of the community" Less