[Faculty of Sociology] "SDGs in the Faculty of Sociology" Can Japan grow economically?data science

SDGSpeaking of s, goals "(5) Realize gender equality" and "(8) Decent work and economic growth" are closely related to the themes studied in the Department of Sociology.

What are your thoughts on this point?

Japan's Gender Gap Index (an index showing gender inequality)120It's as low as rank.The average wage in Japan is this30has barely risen over the years,OECDJoin35all over the country22remains in place.There is also the problem of non-regular workers called freeters and NEETs.

Japan faces many challenges in the future.

There are various names for the current Japanese society, such as declining birthrate and aging society, non-marriage society, information society, digital society, and big data society. .Rational analysis and comprehensive judgment based on data and evidence are indispensable not only for analyzing the current state of society, but also for political decisions, policy making, and business decisions.

I feel that if we combine sociology and data science, we can find some kind of solution.

The term "big data" is used a lot, but what always bothers me is that the term "big data" is not clearly defined, and people use it recklessly because it's a comfortable word. .On a quantitative level, just how much data can be called big data?

For example, in terms of distance, we can understand that the distance between the Earth and the Moon is quite different from the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

Well, "big data" does not have a clear quantitative definition, but the term is used to describe a collection of data so huge and complex that it is difficult to handle with ordinary data management and processing software.Also, the level may change due to the technological evolution of storage media, but it is generally at the petabyte level handled by commercial giant servers (1PB=10¹⁵BThere is an implicit understanding that the data ofEspecially in recent years, new businesses that utilize big data as a resource have grown rapidly, and it has become an important resource for economic growth.

For example, the AmericanGAFA(Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) Or ChineseBAT(Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) is a typical example of the services provided by Internet giants.

Questionnaire surveys (quantitative surveys) are among social surveys, which are powerful analytical methods in sociology. There have been surveys, and these surveys collect a lot of data.This is also called big data.

But it's important to understand the question of whether the data is being measured accurately before getting overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data.For example, a few years ago there was talk of problems gathering data to determine the minimum wage.What has become clear from the corona sickness is that the criteria for "severely ill patients" are different between Tokyo and other prefectures.

If we don't do this properly, in other words, if we don't improve the accuracy of the data, big data will be useless and become a "useless waste."Having said that, it is a good thing that we are now able to analyze a large amount of data, and we should use it to analyze socio-economic conditions and solve them.

I agree.The social infrastructure of the Internet, especially in recent years, the improvement of computer processing performance andIoT・Robotics・AIWith the development of technology and the enhancement of the cloud environment, the evolution of Internet services,Facebook,Twittersocial networking services such asSocial Media), a huge amount of data has been accumulated on the Internet.

In addition, online shopping in daily life,POSThe data accumulated in sales systems, cash cards, and other transactions is used for sales management, marketing, and planning of new services.In the case of manufacturing, it is also used for quality control and production planning, even at manufacturing and logistics sites such as factories and warehouses.

These data include not only numbers, but also unstructured data such as text, images, sounds, and videos, and the amount is so huge that humans cannot handle it, but it is analyzed by computers. If you do, it will be possible to use it to help businesses and people's lives.Data science is a study that is useful for handling such big data (analysis, processing, visualization, etc.).

The Department of Sociology has a sociology major and a data science major.2there is one

この2What do teachers expect from each major?

I would like to improve my data science skills on various social issues and train people who have both a sociological perspective and knowledge of data science.As a result, I hope that they will play an active role in a wide range of fields and become human resources who will play a role in the realization of a sustainable society, not only in Japan but around the world.

By the way, can you tell us about gender?

It's a big problem in our country.The first is to reduce gender inequality as much as possible.We have to think about what we can do about it.

A student of mine (a woman who taught sociology at a graduate school and was a university professor) was elected in a single-seat constituency in the House of Representatives election the other day. There is much to be done.

When it comes to women's empowerment,WiDSDo you know?WiDSThis is a project run by Stanford University in the United States.Women in Data Scienceis an abbreviation forIt's a very unique idea.

Stanford University is2015started in the yearWiDSaims to widely communicate the significance and fascination of data science, enlighten many people, regardless of gender, in this field, and provide or support learning opportunities.the world today60a year in more than a country200More local events were held10It seems that it is growing into an activity in which millions of people participate.

In Japan, Yokohama City University, Waseda University, Hiroshima University, etc. are also participating, and activities are being developed in the form of symposiums, idea challenges, and workshops.From the beginning, among themSDGsSome universities are setting up programs with this in mind.It seems that they are discussing social issues such as the realization of gender equality, which is symbolically indicated by women's social advancement, and new work styles, based on data.Exactly "data science×Sociology is what it is.thisWiDSI think it will be helpful for education in our department.