Social insurance with the characteristics of Chinese socialism.

Ho, Wai Nang (2001) Social insurance with the characteristics of Chinese socialism. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

This research aims at exploring the features of social insurance in China in the mid 1990s. From the Marxist structuralist view social insurance is an institution built on the economic system of the country. In view of the inadequate research from this perspective, this research employs the proposition of sociological study on social insurance to identify the issues of social insurance including the funding formats, service provision patterns, coverage, and the people's experiences and expectations on social insurance in China. This research applied qualitative and quantitative strategies to collect the information. For qualitative research strategy this research traced the historical development of income maintenance services from the feudal stage to the 20th century in China. Also it arranged unstructured interviewing with government officials from various departments, the managers at work units, and the academic who are the experts on income maintenance in the country. This research also reviewed policy papers and internal documents on labour and social insurance in China. The most distinguished part of this study is the quantitative research work carried out in Guangzhou Shi, Guangdong Province in 1995. 25 managers from work units of different types of ownership were interviewed and 520 employees participated in the structured interviewing with questionnaires administered by extraordinary interviewers. The research findings demonstrate that socialist ideology governs the provisions of social insurance in China. However, in the process of building up a socialist market economy, the Communist Party of China also mingled Confucian values with Marxist socialism that makes social insurance with the characteristics of Chinese socialism. The socialist economic system is still the main body of social insurance whilst Confucianism is the means. This appeals to the people to socialise the social insurance services that are heavily financed by state and operated within work units but cover only the categorised labour force in urban China.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Sociology, Public and Social Welfare, Asian Studies
Sets:	Collections > ProQuest Etheses
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/2647

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