Start Date
6-10-2025 9:00 AM
End Date
8-10-2025 7:00 PM
Description
Japan’s low birth rate gives rise to a need for mutual care among citizens to support child-rearing in society. If there is a need for public relationships to repair and sustain society for sustainable livelihoods, what can design contribute to this? This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the factors that promote and inhibit mutual-care relationships among Japanese citizens. To this end, we adopted an action research approach in which non-child-rearing people became involved with families raising children—a group we called ‘Team KAZOKU (family)’. Through a year-long study of Team KAZOKU, we found that mutual-care relationships among citizens were inhibited by three kinds of stereotypes that are commonplace in modern society— specifically, assumptions about care concepts, role expectations, and time imitations. Achieving genuine mutual care within the team required overcoming such stereotypes. These findings highlight the need for conditions and processes in which members can gradually unlearn these stereotypes while having a sense of security. This study offers an alternative perspective on service design that could help create long-term social change by identifying potentially invisible actors.
Citation
Sakakura, K., Kawamura, Y., Tanaka, R., Arakawa, A.,and Ishitsuka, R.(2025) ‘Team KAZOKU’: Fostering Mutual-Care Relationships among Citizens through Non-Parent Participation in Childcare.. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/servdes/servdes2025/researchpapers/38
‘Team KAZOKU’: Fostering Mutual-Care Relationships among Citizens through Non-Parent Participation in Childcare
Japan’s low birth rate gives rise to a need for mutual care among citizens to support child-rearing in society. If there is a need for public relationships to repair and sustain society for sustainable livelihoods, what can design contribute to this? This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the factors that promote and inhibit mutual-care relationships among Japanese citizens. To this end, we adopted an action research approach in which non-child-rearing people became involved with families raising children—a group we called ‘Team KAZOKU (family)’. Through a year-long study of Team KAZOKU, we found that mutual-care relationships among citizens were inhibited by three kinds of stereotypes that are commonplace in modern society— specifically, assumptions about care concepts, role expectations, and time imitations. Achieving genuine mutual care within the team required overcoming such stereotypes. These findings highlight the need for conditions and processes in which members can gradually unlearn these stereotypes while having a sense of security. This study offers an alternative perspective on service design that could help create long-term social change by identifying potentially invisible actors.