Social assistance in urban China : a case study of Shanghai

Author(s):  
Chenxi Huang
Author(s):  
Xiaorong Gu

This essay explores the theory of intersectionality in the study of youths’ lives and social inequality in the Global South. It begins with an overview of the concept of intersectionality and its wide applications in social sciences, followed by a proposal for regrounding the concept in the political economic systems in particular contexts (without assuming the universality of capitalist social relations in Northern societies), rather than positional identities. These systems lay material foundations, shaping the multiple forms of deprivation and precarity in which Southern youth are embedded. A case study of rural migrant youths’ ‘mobility trap’ in urban China is used to illustrate how layers of social institutions and structures in the country’s transition to a mixed economy intersect to influence migrant youths’ aspirations and life chances. The essay concludes with ruminations on the theoretical and social implications of the political-economy-grounded intersectionality approach for youth studies.


Author(s):  
Sergio Sánchez Castiñeira

This case study analyses some of the processes that are restructuring public social assistance in the inequality regime that emerges from the recent economic recession in Spain. It shows how social workers turn what could be an inefficient public program into an active social policy through a cognitive, normative and emotional approach. A highly qualified and vocational workforce compensates meagre institutional support and lack of opportunities by instilling in the new poor new knowledge, abilities and attitudes to access basic informal resources from the local context. However, social workers’ agency could eventually contribute to confine clients within the material and symbolic limits of an expanding grey zone with scarce opportunities and diminished well-being, between inclusion and exclusion. This research is based on semi-structured interviews (17) and focus groups (8).


Author(s):  
Linyuan Guo

China, the developing country with the largest and oldest public education system, is transforming its education system through a nation-wide curriculum reform. This large-scale curriculum change signifies China's complex and multi-dimensional processes and endeavors in empowering its educational system to meet the challenges and opportunities in the era of globalization. This paper reports on an interpretive case study with a particular interest in understanding the impact of the nation-wide curriculum reform on teachers in urban areas. Findings from this study present the complex dimensions of teachers’ lived experiences during this dramatic education change and shed new insights on the current teaching profession in urban China.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Lo

Neighborhood democracy was introduced into urban China in the early 1990s as a way to manage the social conflicts associated with the housing reform. Based on a case study of Dragon Villas, Beijing, this paper explores the causes, processes, and consequences of neighborhood democracy at the microlevel from a longitudinal perspective. Three insights are particularly noteworthy. First, the decrease in rental revenue and occupancy rate and the arrival of Chinese owner-occupiers contributed to the emergence of neighborhood democracy in Dragon Villas. Second, the establishment of a homeowner association, far from ending in the conclusion of neighborhood democratization, was only a first step. Furthermore, conflicts between the developer and the homeowners, and among homeowners, played a crucial role in lengthening the process of neighborhood democratization. Third, democratic self-governance resulted in improved governance, a more diverse built form that articulates individuation through consumption, and changes that reflect the importance of privacy and exclusivity.


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