This perceptive volume presents conceptual, theoretical, and empirical approaches to social policy analysis comparing China and Nordic countries in their treatment of the elderly. An international panel of experts offers valuable policy insights into issues of housing, community care, family care, pensions and social security, and mental health as China translates and adapts Western examples, particularly those set by Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The book contrasts shared issues in the contexts of economic history, accountability and service improvements, and sustainability while also examining specifically Chinese problems such as care gaps between urban and rural elders. Coverage also considers the centrality of aging policy in China as the nation works toward its long-term goal of eradicating poverty.

 

Included among the topics:

Building a welfare system with Chinese characteristics: from a residual type to moderate universalism.
Aging in community: historical and comparative study of aging welfare and social policy.
Sweden: aging welfare and social policy in the 21st century.
Policy responses to aging: care services for the elderly in Norway.
Chinas elderly care policy and its future trends.  

Aging Welfare and Social Policy will interest professionals and researchers addressing questions of Chinese and comparative social policy, health psychologists, and sociologists focused on family, youth, and aging.  

JING Tian-kui, Ph.D. is Academician and Senior Researcher in the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Beijing, vice director of department of social, political and law in CASS, Beijing, China. He was vice director and director of Institute of Sociology, CASS, (1995-2006); vice director of Chinese Sociology Association (1998-2005); vice chairman of International Institute of Sociology, (2001-2005).

Stein Kuhnle, cand.polit., is Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen, Norway, and Professor Emeritus at the Hertie School of Governance, Germany, where he taught Comparative Social Policy (2006-2014). He has been Head of Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen for 14 years between 1983 and 2005, and Chairman of Norwegian Political Science Association (1982-85). He has published widely on comparative welfare state development.

PAN Yi, Ph.D., is Professor and Senior Researcher in the Institute ofSociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Beijing, the deputy general secretary of Social Policy Center of CASS, and deputy general secretary of Social Welfare Academical Association of China, the director of Sino-Nordic Welfare Laboratory in CASS and a member of the Committee of China Charity Alliance, an expert member of Council in China Association of Gerontology. She received her PhD (Social and Political Sciences) from University of Cambridge (UK), MSSc (social policy) in Tampere University (Finland), and BA in Peking University (China).

Sheying Chen, Ph.D., is Professor of Social Policy and former Assoc. Provost for Academic Affairs at Pace University, USA, and honorary Director for Social Work Study at Tsinghua University, China. Previously, he served at Indiana University Southeast as Professor and Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and University of Guam as Professor and Dean of the College of Professional Studies. He held tenure as Chair and Professor at City University of New York, College of Staten Island, and was on the permanent faculty as Coordinator for Graduate Studies at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou. He received his Ph.D. and MSW from University of California, Los Angeles, and M.A. in sociology from Sun Yat-sen University and an undergraduate diploma from Changsha Technological College (now part of Central-South University), China. 

Chapter 1: Welfare States with Nordic Characteristics.- Chapter 2: Building a Welfare System with Chinese Characteristics: From a Residual Type to Moderate Universalism.- Chapter 3: Evolution and Construction of Chinas Social Protection System: A Discussion from the Perspective of Shared Development.- Chapter 4: Aging in Community: Historical and Comparative Study of Aging Welfare and Social Policy.- Chapter 5: Sweden: Ageing Welfare, and Social Policy in the 21st Century.- Chapter 6: Looking for the Easy Way Out: Demographic Panic and the Twists and Turns of Long-term Care Policy in Finland.- Chapter 7: Policy Responses to Ageing: Care Services for the Elderly in Norway.- Chapter 8: Is Finland Connected for e-Health and e-Welfare?.- Chapter 9: Social Construction, System Defect and System Quality of Welfare Policy and Regulation Framework for the Elderly of China.- Chapter 10: Social Organisations and Old Age Services in Urban Communities in China: Stabilising Networks?.- Chapter 11: Social Services for the Elderly Community Based in Urban-Rural China: Investigations in Three Provinces.- Chapter 12: 13.    Appendix: Chinas Elderly Care Policy and Its Future Trends