The promotion and development of sustainable volunteerism is crucial for quality social services.... more The promotion and development of sustainable volunteerism is crucial for quality social services. Previous studies on the relationship between social trust and volunteering is mixed and inclusive. This article aims to investigate the effects of the particularized trust, generalized trust, trust differential (i.e., difference in levels between particularized and generalized trust) and radius of trust (i.e., difference in levels between in-group trust and out-group trust), on volunteering. By interviewing 1,170 Hong Kong Chinese in a territory-wide randomized household survey, this article reveals that generalized trust facilitates volunteering, whereas particularized trust exhibits an inverse effect. The radius of trust could not facilitate voluntary participation. This article distinguishes between the reverse contributions of generalized and particularized trust among Hong Kong Chinese, thereby providing a clear and precise explanation for social trust-volunteering relationships. Future research should focus on the conceptualization and operationalization of radius of trust and cross-cultural comparative studies on the effects of particularized and generalized trust using longitudinal data.
Since the early 21st century, the Chinese government has proactively expanded social protection b... more Since the early 21st century, the Chinese government has proactively expanded social protection by providing better benefits and broader coverage for its people. However, a new puzzle has emerged in the Minimum Living Standard Scheme, ‘last resort of social protection’ in China. Normally, when the benefit standard is set higher, relatively more people situated below this line are entitled to receive assistance. However, in reality fewer people than expected receive support. We study the case of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, to explain this phenomenon and analyse the social citizenship of marginalized groups in urban China. We reveal the decline in replacement rates and tighter conditionality applied to defining the ‘deserving poor’ by reviewing administrative data and policy documents from 1995 to 2016. Drawing on the longitudinal qualitative study conducted between 2009 and 2011, we further illustrate how the decreased replacement rate and tighter conditionality diminish the well-being of the poor. Our findings on policy changes and their outcomes in Guangzhou provide some important insights into poverty governance and social citizenship under China’s social development in the past decade.
The Chinese government has recently expanded the scope of urban social insurance programmes. Howe... more The Chinese government has recently expanded the scope of urban social insurance programmes. However, social protection for the labour force of urban informal sector, which reaches about half the number of urban workers, lags significantly behind. This under-coverage may be due to institutional constraints, particularly the household registration system (hukou), and self-selection behaviour related to the limited benefits of social insurance. Drawing on a recent nationwide individual-level survey and city-level statistics, this study examines these two explanations for the under-enrolment of social insurance programme. First, results suggest that hukou and the intergovernmental fiscal system are major institutional constraints. Second, self-selection behaviour in programme enrolment is verified. Employers in the informal sector are likely to opt out of social insurance. More importantly, employers in the informal sector with rural or non-local hukou are also likely to opt out of social insurance, which suggests that self-selection behaviour is constrained by institutions. Such findings have important implications for broad theoretical and policy debates on universal social protection.
SUMMARY China has adopted purchase-of-services to facilitate the development of societal sector, ... more SUMMARY China has adopted purchase-of-services to facilitate the development of societal sector, including social organisations, social work profession, and social services. Project-based and post-based purchases are two typical policy designs. Why do the local states develop two different designs to serve similar intentions? The answers to this question contribute to the broader discussion of policymaking and social development in China. With the intention-capacity analytic framework, this study systemically compares the Guangzhou's project-based model and Shenzhen's post-based model, by drawing upon an extensive review of policy and archive documents, key informant interviews and field observations. The comparative study suggests, the pro-market ideology and incomplete analytical capacity in policy learning directed the design thinking towards market mechanism and purchase-of-services. Without the organisational conditions of social organisation and social work in Guangzhou, rapid growth in the social work workforce became the top priority in Shenzhen. Meanwhile, the trustworthiness of newly developing social organisations is another concern. All of these concerns underpinned the post-based design. Both models succeed in expanding the societal sectors with the substantial fiscal support. But the mixes of market and hierarchy tools, post-based model in particular, would be the obstacle in further enabling social organisation and social work profession.
In the last two decades, we have witnessed a rapid expansion of higher education in Mainland Chin... more In the last two decades, we have witnessed a rapid expansion of higher education in Mainland China and Taiwan, recording a significant increase in higher education enrolments in these two Chinese societies. The massification of higher education in China and Taiwan has inevitably resulted in an oversupply of university graduates, with growing social concerns for skills mismatches being found in the labour market, stagnant graduate employment and social mobility. This article critically examines how university students and graduates in these two Chinese societies reflect upon their employment experiences. Human capital theory predicts that other things being equal, raising participation in higher education will initially increase inequality as rates of return rise, and then it will reduce inequality as expansion reaches mass levels and rates of return decline. If the output of graduates outpaces the demand for their skills, which appears to be the current case in many countries, then supply and demand pressures reduce the pay premium for degrees and lower income inequalities. However, this study clearly demonstrates that the massification and the universalisation of higher education in Mainland China and Taiwan, respectively, have actually intensified inequality.
According to the rhetoric of the post-war welfare state, citizens should have equal access to soc... more According to the rhetoric of the post-war welfare state, citizens should have equal access to social benefits and protection based on human needs, rather than place of residence (Wincott, 2006). But under China’s socialist system and neoliberal reform, Chinese social citizenship has been eroded for various political and economic goals. Are there positive changes in Chinese social citizenship after a decade of social policy development? By interviewing 24 migrant college graduates working in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the current study confirms institutional progress in social policy for people’s social protection. But these post-neoliberal social programmes are far from enough to help migrant graduates perform full social citizenship in urban regions. By studying social inclusion of educated but disadvantaged youth under neoliberal and post-neoliberal reforms, the study contributes to a growing body of literature analyzing social citizenship and social policy in China.
The promotion and development of sustainable volunteerism is crucial for quality social services.... more The promotion and development of sustainable volunteerism is crucial for quality social services. Previous studies on the relationship between social trust and volunteering is mixed and inclusive. This article aims to investigate the effects of the particularized trust, generalized trust, trust differential (i.e., difference in levels between particularized and generalized trust) and radius of trust (i.e., difference in levels between in-group trust and out-group trust), on volunteering. By interviewing 1,170 Hong Kong Chinese in a territory-wide randomized household survey, this article reveals that generalized trust facilitates volunteering, whereas particularized trust exhibits an inverse effect. The radius of trust could not facilitate voluntary participation. This article distinguishes between the reverse contributions of generalized and particularized trust among Hong Kong Chinese, thereby providing a clear and precise explanation for social trust-volunteering relationships. Future research should focus on the conceptualization and operationalization of radius of trust and cross-cultural comparative studies on the effects of particularized and generalized trust using longitudinal data.
Since the early 21st century, the Chinese government has proactively expanded social protection b... more Since the early 21st century, the Chinese government has proactively expanded social protection by providing better benefits and broader coverage for its people. However, a new puzzle has emerged in the Minimum Living Standard Scheme, ‘last resort of social protection’ in China. Normally, when the benefit standard is set higher, relatively more people situated below this line are entitled to receive assistance. However, in reality fewer people than expected receive support. We study the case of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, to explain this phenomenon and analyse the social citizenship of marginalized groups in urban China. We reveal the decline in replacement rates and tighter conditionality applied to defining the ‘deserving poor’ by reviewing administrative data and policy documents from 1995 to 2016. Drawing on the longitudinal qualitative study conducted between 2009 and 2011, we further illustrate how the decreased replacement rate and tighter conditionality diminish the well-being of the poor. Our findings on policy changes and their outcomes in Guangzhou provide some important insights into poverty governance and social citizenship under China’s social development in the past decade.
The Chinese government has recently expanded the scope of urban social insurance programmes. Howe... more The Chinese government has recently expanded the scope of urban social insurance programmes. However, social protection for the labour force of urban informal sector, which reaches about half the number of urban workers, lags significantly behind. This under-coverage may be due to institutional constraints, particularly the household registration system (hukou), and self-selection behaviour related to the limited benefits of social insurance. Drawing on a recent nationwide individual-level survey and city-level statistics, this study examines these two explanations for the under-enrolment of social insurance programme. First, results suggest that hukou and the intergovernmental fiscal system are major institutional constraints. Second, self-selection behaviour in programme enrolment is verified. Employers in the informal sector are likely to opt out of social insurance. More importantly, employers in the informal sector with rural or non-local hukou are also likely to opt out of social insurance, which suggests that self-selection behaviour is constrained by institutions. Such findings have important implications for broad theoretical and policy debates on universal social protection.
SUMMARY China has adopted purchase-of-services to facilitate the development of societal sector, ... more SUMMARY China has adopted purchase-of-services to facilitate the development of societal sector, including social organisations, social work profession, and social services. Project-based and post-based purchases are two typical policy designs. Why do the local states develop two different designs to serve similar intentions? The answers to this question contribute to the broader discussion of policymaking and social development in China. With the intention-capacity analytic framework, this study systemically compares the Guangzhou's project-based model and Shenzhen's post-based model, by drawing upon an extensive review of policy and archive documents, key informant interviews and field observations. The comparative study suggests, the pro-market ideology and incomplete analytical capacity in policy learning directed the design thinking towards market mechanism and purchase-of-services. Without the organisational conditions of social organisation and social work in Guangzhou, rapid growth in the social work workforce became the top priority in Shenzhen. Meanwhile, the trustworthiness of newly developing social organisations is another concern. All of these concerns underpinned the post-based design. Both models succeed in expanding the societal sectors with the substantial fiscal support. But the mixes of market and hierarchy tools, post-based model in particular, would be the obstacle in further enabling social organisation and social work profession.
In the last two decades, we have witnessed a rapid expansion of higher education in Mainland Chin... more In the last two decades, we have witnessed a rapid expansion of higher education in Mainland China and Taiwan, recording a significant increase in higher education enrolments in these two Chinese societies. The massification of higher education in China and Taiwan has inevitably resulted in an oversupply of university graduates, with growing social concerns for skills mismatches being found in the labour market, stagnant graduate employment and social mobility. This article critically examines how university students and graduates in these two Chinese societies reflect upon their employment experiences. Human capital theory predicts that other things being equal, raising participation in higher education will initially increase inequality as rates of return rise, and then it will reduce inequality as expansion reaches mass levels and rates of return decline. If the output of graduates outpaces the demand for their skills, which appears to be the current case in many countries, then supply and demand pressures reduce the pay premium for degrees and lower income inequalities. However, this study clearly demonstrates that the massification and the universalisation of higher education in Mainland China and Taiwan, respectively, have actually intensified inequality.
According to the rhetoric of the post-war welfare state, citizens should have equal access to soc... more According to the rhetoric of the post-war welfare state, citizens should have equal access to social benefits and protection based on human needs, rather than place of residence (Wincott, 2006). But under China’s socialist system and neoliberal reform, Chinese social citizenship has been eroded for various political and economic goals. Are there positive changes in Chinese social citizenship after a decade of social policy development? By interviewing 24 migrant college graduates working in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the current study confirms institutional progress in social policy for people’s social protection. But these post-neoliberal social programmes are far from enough to help migrant graduates perform full social citizenship in urban regions. By studying social inclusion of educated but disadvantaged youth under neoliberal and post-neoliberal reforms, the study contributes to a growing body of literature analyzing social citizenship and social policy in China.
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Papers by Zhuoyi Wen