Skip to main content
Hauptrubriken
Zeitschriften Fortbildung Hebammen Bücher Kongresse & Live-Webinare
Social Media - Folgen Sie uns!
Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Instagram Hebammen
Service
Jobbörse Kundenservice Info & Hilfe
Fokus-Themen
Chronisch-entzündliche Darmerkrankung COVID-19-Update Diabetes Hautpflege Klima & Gesundheit Hygiene Intensivpflege Kardiologische Pflege Mobilisation Nachhaltigkeit Nierenerkrankungen Obstipation Onkologische Pflege Palliativpflege Schmerz Sucht in der Pflege Vielfalt, Gleichberechtigung und Inklusion Wundversorgung
Erweiterte Suche
Anmelden
nach oben
Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie
Erschienen in:

01.10.2008 | ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION

Emergence of the notion of retirement in rural China:

The case of rural districts of Shanghai

verfasst von: Dr. Shi Shih-Jiunn

Erschienen in: Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie | Ausgabe 5/2008

Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten

Abstract

Since the outset of the reform process in 1978, rural China has been undergoing fundamental changes in the relationships between the state, society and individuals. Social policy, including pension policy for rural residents, is an essential factor in this transformation process which has influenced the life chances of many peasants. This paper deals with the relationship between social policy and individual life courses in the case of Shanghai’s rural pension policy. It integrates the theoretical insights from life course research to emphasise the close relationship between the state welfare and the institutionalisation of the life course. By analysing biographical interviews conducted in rural Shanghai, this article has identified the changing nature of welfare mix in rural old-age security as well as the emergence of the notion of retirement among the peasants in rural Shanghai. The introduction of the innovative rural pension policy has given rise to the rudimentary emergence of a modern life course, in the contour of a temporal partition between work and retirement. However, diverse local subsidies and individual household situations have led to different perceptions and biographical orientations of the peasants with respect to their old-age security and retirement.
Vorheriger Artikel Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie
Nächster Artikel Chancen und Risiken der Festlegung von Altersgrenzen des Ruhestands
Fußnoten
1
Research for this article was funded by the International Graduate School of Sociology, University of Bielefeld. Prof. Lutz Leisering also provided generous academic and financial support during my PhD study. I am indebted to Professors Cai Mantang, Peng Xizhe, as well as Gong Sen, Tang Jun, Dai Guangyi, and Liu Yugen for their assistance during my fieldwork in China. Revision of this article was jointly funded by the College of Social Sciences, National Taiwan University; and the National Science Council in Taiwan (project number: NSC 97-2410-H-002 -003 –MY2).
 
2
The choice of Jiading District and Pudong New District is based on their peculiarities. While the former is the first region in Shanghai which introduced the rural pension scheme in 1986, the latter has become the fastest-growing region in Shanghai in recent decades, making it necessary to deal with the blurring boundary between urban and rural areas.
 
3
The viewpoint of life course institutionalisation has, however, triggered debates among social scientists over the further development of the life course in Western societies. A number of scholars believe that the life course is currently undergoing drastic change toward the erosion of the normal biography. For relevant discussions, see [11, 23].
 
4
See: [18]. For the significance of age in the perception of social agency, see [22].
 
5
The focus on local institutional framework makes sense because the policy guideline of the central government stresses the self-reliance of local pension schemes. For the discussion of the general nationwide development, see [14, 24].
 
6
For instance, the new social assistance scheme, Minimum Living Standard System (MLSS), was initially experimented in Shanghai, and then expanded to all Chinese cities in 1999 upon the demand of the central government. See [17].
 
7
The following description and data are based on the interview with the official of the Bureau of Labour and Social Security in Shanghai, April 2005. Further information originates from the pamphlet about the rural old-age insurance issued by the Shanghai Bureau of Civil Affairs in 1996.
 
8
Description in this section over the policy details of the TIP is based on the “Overview of the Township Insurance Programme” issued by the Shanghai Bureau of Labour and Social Security.
 
9
The 25% contribution rate includes 17% for pension insurance, 5% for medical insurance, 2% for unemployment insurance, 0.5% for work injury and another 0.5% for motherhood insurance. See: “Provisional Regulation of TIP in Shanghai” of 18 October 2003 (Shanghai xiao chengzhen shehui baoxian zhanxing banfa).
 
10
The following description is based on the information of the “Provisional Regulation of TIP in Shanghai” of 18 October 2003 (Shanghai xiao chengzhen shehui baoxian zhanxing banfa). As unemployment and motherhood are less relevant for the theme here, I put aside the illustration of their respective regulations.
 
11
Insured persons who have reached the age threshold but fail to provide sufficient contribution records are allowed to pay contributions until the minimum condition is fulfilled.
 
12
Figures are provided by the Bureau of Labour and Social Security in Shanghai. It was estimated that until the end of 2006, the TIP has covered, together with the urban and rural social insurance schemes, nearly 13 million Shanghai residents.
 
13
Interview, 12 May 2005.
 
14
Interview, 28 April 2005.
 
15
Paucity of statistical data precludes further information about the progress of private commercial insurance in rural Shanghai. Note that public and private pension schemes here have been in a competitive relationship to each other.
 
16
Even the newly-established TIP is unable to provide fully-fledged protection for these risks. Especially medical care has become the greatest threat to the household economy in rural Shanghai. Although the TIP grants a certain percentage of financial subsidies for the incurred medical expenses, the regulation sets a ceiling for the refund of medical costs.
 
17
Interview, 16 May 2005.
 
18
Interview, 29 April 2005.
 
19
Interview, 28 April 2005.
 
20
Interview, 12 May 2005.
 
21
Interview, 16 May 2005.
 
22
Interview, 28 April 2005.
 
23
In this respect, David-Friedmann’s observation (2: 17) remains valid that “these clear-cut differences between the work and retirement of elderly men and women create different patterns of leisure in advanced old age.” But my findings in rural Shanghai point to the consolidation of this trend by the rural pension schemes.
 
Literatur
1.
Benjamin D, Brandt L, Fan J - Z (2003) Ceaseless toil: Health and labour supply of the elderly in rural China. WDI working paper, no 579
2.
Davis-Friedmann D (1991) Long lives. Chinese elderly and the Communist Revolution. Stanford University Press, Stanford
3.
Elder G H (1985) Perspectives on the life course. In: Elder G H (ed) Life Course Dynamics. Trajectories and Transitions, 1968-1990. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, pp 23–49
4.
Elder G H (1994) Time, human agency, and social change: Perspectives on the life course. Social Psychology Quarterly 57 (1): 4–15CrossRef
5.
Guan X (2005) China’s social policy: Reform and development in the context of marketization and globalization. In: Kwon H (ed) Transforming the Developmental Welfare State in East Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp 231–256
6.
Hayward M D, Wang W (1993) Retirement in Shanghai. Research on Aging 15 (1): 3–32CrossRef
7.
Hebel J (1997) Alter und Ruhestand in der Volksrepublik China. Zeitschrift für Sozialisationsforschung und Erziehungssoziologie 17 (2): 184–199
8.
Henretta J C (2003) The lifecourse perspective on work and retirement. In: Settersten R A (ed) Invitation to the Life Course: Toward New Understandings of Later Life. Baywood Publishing Company, New York, pp 85–105
9.
Hung E P W, Chiu S W K (2003) The lost generation: Life course dynamics and Xiagang in China. Modern China 29 (2): 204–236CrossRef
10.
Kohli M (1986) The world we forgot: An historical review of the life course. In: Marshall V W (ed) Later Life: The Social Psychology of Aging. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, pp 271–303
11.
Kohli M (2007) The institutionalization of the life course: Looking back to look ahead. Research in Human Development 4 (3/4): 253–271
12.
Leisering L (2002) Ein moderner Lebenslauf in der Volksrepublik China? Zur Generalisierbarkeit eines Forschungsprogramms. In: Burkart G, Wolf J (eds) Lebenszeiten. Erkundungen zur Soziologie der Generationen. Festschrift für Martin Kohli. Leske + Budrich, Opladen, pp 25–40
13.
Leisering L (2003) Government and the life course. In: Mortimer J T, Shanahan M J (eds) Handbook of the Life Course. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, pp 205–225CrossRef
14.
Leisering L, Gong S, Hussain A (2002) People’s Republic of China - Old-age pensions for the rural areas: From land reform to globalization. Asian Development Bank, Manila
15.
Leisering L, Leibfried S (1999) Times of poverty in western welfare states: United Germany in perspective. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
16.
Leung J C B (2003) Social security reforms in China: Issues and prospects. International Journal of Social Welfare 12: 73–85CrossRef
17.
Leung J C B, Wong H S W (1999) The emergence of a community-based social assistance programme in urban China. Social Policy & Administration 33 (1): 39–54CrossRef
18.
Levy R (1996) Towards a theory of life course institutionalization. In: Weymann A, Heinz W R (eds) Society and Biography. Interrelationships between Social Structure, Institutions and the Life Course. Deutscher Studien Verlag, Weinheim, pp 83–108
19.
Mayer K U, Müller W (1986) The state and the structure of the life course. In: Sørensen A B, Weinert F E, Sherrod L R (eds) Human Development and the Life Course: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, pp 217–245
20.
Mayer K U, Schöpflin U (1989) The state and the life course. Annual Review of Sociology 15: 187–209CrossRef
21.
Pang L, Brauw A d, Rozelle S (2004) Working until you drop: The elderly of rural China. China Journal 52: 73–94CrossRef
22.
Settersten R A (1997) The salience of age in the life course. Human Development 40: 257–281CrossRef
23.
Settersten R A (1999) Lives in time and place. The problems and promises of developmental acience. Baywood Publishing Company, Amityville
24.
Shi S-J (2006) Left to market and family – Again? Ideas and the development of the rural pension policy in China. Social Policy & Administration 40 (7): 791–806CrossRef
25.
Wong L (1998) Marginalization and social welfare in China. Routledge, London and New York
26.
Wong L, Flynn N (eds) (2001) The Market in Chinese Social Policy. Palgrave, Basingstoke and New York
27.
Xu Y (2001) Family support for old people in rural China. Social Policy & Administration 35 (3): 307–320CrossRef
28.
Zhou X, Hou L (1999) Children of the Cultural Revolution: The state and the life course in the People’s Republic of China. American Sociological Review 64 (1): 12–36CrossRef
29.
Zhou X, Moen P (2001) Explaining life chances in China’s economic transformation: A life course approach. Social Science Research 30: 552–577CrossRef
30.
Zhou X, Tuma N B, Moen P (1996) Stratification dynamics under state socialism: The case of urban China, 1949-1993. Social Forces 74: 759–796CrossRef
31.
Zhou X, Tuma N B, Moen P (1997) Institutional change and job-shift patterns in urban China, 1940 to 1994. American Sociological Review 62: 339–365CrossRef
Metadaten
Titel
Emergence of the notion of retirement in rural China:
The case of rural districts of Shanghai
verfasst von
Dr. Shi Shih-Jiunn
Publikationsdatum
01.10.2008
Verlag
D. Steinkopff-Verlag
Erschienen in
Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie / Ausgabe 5/2008
Print ISSN: 0948-6704
Elektronische ISSN: 1435-1269
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-008-0002-8

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 5/2008

Riechverlust im Alter Eine häufige, wenig beachtete Störung mit bedeutenden Auswirkungen

  • ÜBERSICHT

Alter(n) und Identitätsentwicklung: Formen des Umgangs mit dem eigenen Älterwerden

  • Originalarbeit

Bericht des Präsidenten

  • Mitteilungen

Small-bowel tumors in the elderly 65+ years: 10 years of experience

  • Review

Die Situation von PflegeheimbewohnerInnen mit Kontinenzproblemen: eine Studie in 2 deutschen Pflegeheimen

  • ORIGINALARBEIT

The end of discrimination in social security for the elderly?

  • Originalarbeit