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China: a welfare state?: the development of the welfare effort in a multi-dimensional context

Schmidt, Susanne (2012) China: a welfare state?: the development of the welfare effort in a multi-dimensional context.

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Abstract:This thesis deals with the development of social policies in China to answer the main research question: To what extent does the European welfare state model explains the increased welfare state effort in China between 1978 and 2009? It is questionable if China can be regarded as a welfare state in the European sense. Therefore the first sub-research question deals explicitly with the question to what extent China can be regarded as a welfare state in the European sense. The second sub-research question investigates to what extent do socio-demographic and economic factors show a relation to the increase of welfare state effort in China between 1978 and 2009. And the third subresearch question examines to what extent the introduction of social policies and changes of leadership show a relation to the increase of welfare state effort in China between 1978 and 2009. To answer these questions, the theoretical framework deals with two main concepts. Firstly, the concept of the European welfare state is discussed with its application on China and secondly, theories on the transition of the welfare state are used to develop hypotheses on factors which can reasonably affect the welfare state effort. The longitudinal research design makes use of secondary data analysis. The empirical analysis is divided into three steps. Firstly, it is discussed whether China fulfils the condition of welfare state formation ending with the conclusion that China shows just partially the characteristics of the ‘European’ welfare state. Secondly, the development of socio-demographic and external economic factors is compared to the welfare effort and showed, that the factors economic wealth, population aging and urban population show a related development like the welfare state effort. In the third step, the introduction of social policies is analysed with regard to the development of the welfare effort and displayed that especially policies including the rural area and informal workers lead to higher expenditures. This study shall contribute to a better understanding of the Chinese social policies since China is mostly neglected in the academic analysis of welfare affairs. The study demonstrates that China has unique characteristics for welfare provision which are not included in any theory of welfare state transition yet.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:88 social and public administration
Programme:European Studies BSc (56627)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/61664
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