九州의 「지역 생활조직」

Abstract

This field research has been organized for the purpose of providing first-hand information about the urban neighborhood associations of Kyushu region in Japan. The role of neighborhood association as an agent of social integration has been remained effective despite of the rapid social mobility and the apathy of the young generation toward local community. At primary school district level, community leaders emphasized the need of organizing welfare system based on mutual help and and voluntary garbage dispose system. In fact, these functional requirements cannot be met without the cooperation of the neighborhood association. The community center established at the primary school district level has provided the recurrent education programme and the place for the activities of the various organizations including neighborhood association. The local authorities have supported the community center expecting the effect of social integration based on the sense of community. In these efforts, we can see the trend toward the reorganization of social relations and the redefinition of the autonomous local identity. But this emphasis upon the of the local identity can be interpreted as the other side of the globalization, which has been the social consensus in Japan since the 1980s.