Takehiko Kariya (born 1955) is a Japanese sociologist specializing in the sociology of education. After graduating from the University of Tokyo, he earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University. He served as Professor at the University of Tokyo and later at the University of Oxford, and is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Oxford and Specially Appointed Professor at Sophia University. His research focuses on educational inequality, meritocracy, social stratification, and education reform, and has had a significant influence on debates over education and social policy in Japan. He received the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities for "Kyoiku no Seiki" ("The Century of Education") in 2005 and the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award for "Oi Tsuita Kindai Kieta Kindai" ("Modernity Achieved, Modernity Lost") in 2020. His best-known work, "Kyoiku no Seiki" ("The Century of Education"), examines the historical relationship between education and equality, offering a comparative perspective on the challenges facing modern education in Japan.