Revisiting the Social Constructionist Approach to the Study of Child Abuse

This paper explores key outcomes and remaining issues of the study of child abuse conducted by social constructionist approach in the context of Japanese society. Five major books and research papers are selected to examine how the authors explained the significanceof embracing the perspective of social constructionism, and what they argued basedon this perspective. It also examines the challenges of social constructionism per se through the discussion of ontological gerrymandering and its effect to the study of child abuse, as well as the reactions to their research outcomes with reference to book review published in several sociology journals. It is identified that social constructionists have actively been involved as critics, or as a participant being a “claim-maker”, against major social discourse in which child abuse is believed to become more serious problem. The socialconstructionists have criticized that any efforts to combat child abuse would turn out to be the reinforcement of the surveillance system and “individualization” of the responsibility for child abuse. The paper concludes that taking the perspectives of historical approach and social process may contribute to the development of the future studies of child abuse