3 East Asian welfare regimes
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Ruby C. M. Chau
Abstract
This chapter is concerned with the uniqueness of East Asian welfare regimes. It starts with a discussion of the culturalist and the productivist perspectives which are widely applied to the study of these welfare regimes. By comparing Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea with 20 non-East Asian countries in terms of their relative labour participation rate, the gender wage gap and other indicators, it is found that the influence of the traditional male-breadwinner model that associated with the cultural perspective is not as strong as assumed. By reviewing data concerning the health care and education provisions in these four sites and the 20 countries outside East Asia, it is shown that the supported adult worker model associated with the productivist perspective is not as dominant as the current literature suggests. By considering the welfare issues commonly faced by both East Asian and non-East Asian countries and territories, this chapter concludes that East Asia should be treated as an important but not the only observation ground of government strategies on productivism.
Abstract
This chapter is concerned with the uniqueness of East Asian welfare regimes. It starts with a discussion of the culturalist and the productivist perspectives which are widely applied to the study of these welfare regimes. By comparing Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea with 20 non-East Asian countries in terms of their relative labour participation rate, the gender wage gap and other indicators, it is found that the influence of the traditional male-breadwinner model that associated with the cultural perspective is not as strong as assumed. By reviewing data concerning the health care and education provisions in these four sites and the 20 countries outside East Asia, it is shown that the supported adult worker model associated with the productivist perspective is not as dominant as the current literature suggests. By considering the welfare issues commonly faced by both East Asian and non-East Asian countries and territories, this chapter concludes that East Asia should be treated as an important but not the only observation ground of government strategies on productivism.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of figure and tables viii
- List of abbreviations x
- About the authors xi
- Preface xii
- Series editors’ preface xiv
- Introduction 1
- The theoretical foundation of the life-mix framework 23
- East Asian welfare regimes 46
- Policy case studies: childcare leave measures and ECEC 69
- Policy case study: pension measures 96
- Policy case study: active labour market policies and alternatives 114
- Women’s life-mixes: insights from two qualitative studies in Hong Kong 134
- Creating favourable conditions for diverse life-mix preferences 151
- New dimensions to contemporary welfare ideas 169
- Conclusion 190
- Notes 204
- References 207
- Index 233
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of figure and tables viii
- List of abbreviations x
- About the authors xi
- Preface xii
- Series editors’ preface xiv
- Introduction 1
- The theoretical foundation of the life-mix framework 23
- East Asian welfare regimes 46
- Policy case studies: childcare leave measures and ECEC 69
- Policy case study: pension measures 96
- Policy case study: active labour market policies and alternatives 114
- Women’s life-mixes: insights from two qualitative studies in Hong Kong 134
- Creating favourable conditions for diverse life-mix preferences 151
- New dimensions to contemporary welfare ideas 169
- Conclusion 190
- Notes 204
- References 207
- Index 233
