Suchergebnisse

Unequal access to bridging social capital is found to be an important factor of social inequality. School is a social organization where individuals can make social connections and through whom, can accumulate social capital. Existing research on the relationship between school and social capital has mainly focused on the bonding function of social capital and its impact on academic outcomes. Access to bridging social capital through school peers is little understood. The present study aims to examine the relationship between school and access to bridging social capital through peers in urban China. Data come from a probability sample of 989 high school students in urban Nanjing. Respondents from better family backgrounds are found to be more likely to enter high-prestige schools than the less advantaged students. School peers are the most significant source of social capital for students in high-prestige schools. These findings suggest that school is an important channel through which family advantages in social capital can be transmitted to the younger generation and reinforced through school tracking, further exacerbating social capital inequality.

Zhan HJ, The role of the family in institutional long‐term care – cultural management of filial piety in ChinaInt J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: S121–S134 © 2011 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare.This study used both qualitative and quantitative data collected in Nanjing, China, from 2008 to 2009, to examine the role of the family in long‐term institutional elder care. The qualitative data reported on four separate groups of family members and their elderly parents residing in institutions. The survey included information from 140 elder care institutions (over 95% of all urban elder care institutions) in Nanjing. The quantitative data provided a background from which to understand the qualitative responses of family members obtained during the focus group discussions. The qualitative data added a contextualized understanding of the reasons for institutional placement and aspects of the families' continued involvement in long‐term care. In conclusion, Chinese families, unlike families in the West, are currently struggling to manage the cultural demands of elder care together with the usual financial, caregiving, and emotional concerns. Managing stigma has been one of the adult children's prevalent themes in the transition from familial to institutional care.

Demographic shifts in China pose unprecedented challenges in the care of a rapidly growing older population. Sporadic reports suggest the recent emergence of institutional elder care in China, but little is currently known about this phenomenon. This study documents the growth, ownership, financing, staffing, and resident characteristics of elder care institutions using survey data collected in 2009 from Nanjing, China, supplemented with government registry data from seven additional major Chinese cities. Between one-half and two-thirds of facilities operating in these cities were founded in the last decade, primarily in the non-government sector. In Nanjing, government ownership dominated homes built before 1990 (96%) but was increasingly rare in the 1990s (60%) and in the 2000s (23%), a pattern observed in the other seven cities as well. In Nanjing, the average home now draws more than 80% of its daily operating revenues from private-pay or other non-government sources, and this share increases sharply with the recency of facility establishment. The majority (85%) of non-government-owned homes are receiving ongoing per-bed subsidies from the government. The lack of clinical staff characterizes the majority of study facilities; most care staff are rural migratory workers. There is considerable variability across facilities in the case-mix of residents in terms of functional dependence and acuity levels. These findings portray the emergence and rapid growth of a nascent industry of institutional long-term care in urban China and a fundamental shift in institutional ownership, financing, and clientele.