Research on Old-Age Security for Senior sandwich class in Rural Area of Zigong from the Perspective of Welfare Pluralism Theory

  • Nowadays, China has seen irretrievable trend of aging society and the urbanization, which has exerted great impact on the traditional old-age security model: home care, in the rural area. With widening gap between urban and rural areas and the rural areas’ being increasingly empty nested, the old-age security for the large number of senior sandwich class in these areas, which needs to be covered while unable to be guaranteed, merits special attention. The governments cannot solve the problems once for all since they are experiencing the transformation from the management governments to service ones. However, the Welfare Pluralism Theory highlighting a plural welfare system involved with the governments, the markets, the families and the society, in which the governments shoulder the responsibility of coordination, integration and control, has helped to ease the situation in the western countries. Governments must stick to its role of meta-governance while increasingly delegate their power to lower levels during their transformation to the service ones. From the perspective of Welfare Pluralism Theory, we should clarify the government's responsibilities, build up social organizations, develop relevant markets, facilitate the development of families and individuals so as to form an effective social governance and a good social order, and therefore protect people's livelihood in a sustainable way. Zigong, with a typical shallow-hill topography, sees a middle level economic development in Sichuan Province, a relatively narrower gap of per capita dispensable income level between its rural areas and the national average, as well as a large group of senior sandwich class in rural areas. Therefore, it would be representative to study the old-age security for the senior sandwich class in rural areas. In this thesis, the author focuses on the research on the old-age security for the senior sandwich class in rural areas in Zigong, applying the Welfare Pluralism Theory to examine the status quo and existing problems from the aspects of the government, the market, the social organization, as well as the family and individual. In this paper, I discover that the aging problem of Zigong is more serious, and the proportion of sandwich class senior residents in rural areas is relative higher when compared to other region in China. Despite local governments have released some relevant policies, imbalances between income and expenditure, serious empty nesting and monotonous spiritual life among the senior sandwich class in rural areas are still common. At the same time, problems such as lack of attention and policy support from the governments, difficulties in daily care, under-developed human infrastructure in rural areas, heavy economic burden caused by weddings and funerals are still haunting. By analyzing the major causes for these problems from the aspects of the government, the market, the social organization, the individual and family. I noted that these mainly attribute to some reasons. Under these circumstances, it would be a great reference for the government to provide the countermeasures and advices from the aspects of the government itself, the markets, the social organization, and the family and individual, when playing its role of meta-governance, to solve the problem of old-age security for the senior sandwich class in under-developed regions in China.

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Metadaten
Author:Linfeng Li
URN:urn:nbn:de:kobv:b721-opus4-22813
Referee:Jochen Breinlinger-O'Reilly
Advisor:Ke Ma
Document Type:Master's Thesis
Language:English
Year of Completion:2019
Date of first Publication:2020/07/30
Publishing Institution:Hochschulbibliothek HWR Berlin
Granting Institution:Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Recht Berlin
Date of final exam:2019/07/04
Release Date:2020/07/30
Tag:Meta-governance; Old-age security in rural area; Welfare Pluralism Theory; senior sandwich class in rural area
Page Number:61
Institutes:Berlin Professional School (BPS) / Chinese-European Economics Business Studies M.A. (CEEBS)
Licence (German):License LogoUrheberrechtsschutz