Raymond K. H. Chan

Gender Roles and Help-Seeking Behaviour Promoting Professional Help among Japanese Men

• Summary: Japanese gender roles are usually constructed according to tradition, and men are assumed to possess a traditional masculine identity. This article examines the aspects of gender role identity and the socio-demographic factors that predict help-seeking attitudes among Japanese men. Data on 265 Japanese males were measured using the GRCS and ATSPPH-S scales. • Findings: In general, the participants showed a moderate level adherence to traditional gender roles. They were sceptical about the efficacy of professional help and did not actively seek or welcome professional assistance. The findings support the argument that men’s orientation towards success, power and competition, and their restricted emotionality have a significant impact on their likelihood to seek professional help. • Application: The implications of these findings on psychological and counselling practices in Japanese society are also discussed.

Controlled decentralization: minban education reform in China

Minban (non-state sector operated) education has already established a hold in the Chinese education system. Its development has been viewed as a product of the governments ongoing process of controlled decentralization, together with privatization of education services in the early 1980s. The high importance given to financial decentralization has created tension among different levels of government, and between the government and minban schools. There are also governance issues in this new institutional environment. It is argued that there should be more comprehensive decentralization, greater freedom accorded to individual schools, and guaranteed resources provided to support basic education.

Risk discourse and politics: Restructuring welfare in Hong Kong

This paper uses the concept of risk to frame an analysis of welfare reforms and politics in Hong Kong following the financial crisis. Recently, the government and the public have been increasingly exposed to, and aware of, risk. The old welfare policies were considered ineffective in coping with new risks and were gradually replaced by new strategies, formulated in accordance with risk-led welfare discourse. The new risks and the risk management policies have reconfigured political alignments and power relationships among various stakeholders, who continue to debate risk definitions and appropriate responses. The perception and significance of risk, especially after the financial crisis, in reconfiguring risk politics, reconstituting power among the state and various groups, and constructing welfare discourse and policies will be examined. Even though actual risk has greatly diminished since 2004, risk has been entrenched in government policy.

Globalisation, Unemployment and the Welfare Regime in Hong Kong

Hong Kong has a liberal economy, and its welfare regime relies, first, on income through employment and, second, on support provided by family and community members. Although the government has strategically invested in certain social services, generally speaking, its aid is intended to be a secondary, if not the last resort. This system was effective when Hong Kong benefited from globalisation, enjoyed virtually full employment in the decades preceding the mid-1990s. However, the changes in capital flow and increasing capital relocation to Mainland China have had a negative impact on employment. As a result, the current welfare regime is unsustainable. The neo-liberal ideologies adopted by the government have only led to further social polarisation and instability. It is time for an approach that combines balanced development with broader social support.

UNEMPLOYMENT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH AMONG HONG KONG CHINESE WOMEN

The impact of unemployment on psychological health, indexed by the General Health Questionnaire, was studied in 86 unemployed and 79 employed Chinese women in Hong Kong. As with findings reported in the West, the present results showed that the unemployed participants were more disturbed than their steadily employed peers. In addition, the prevalence rate of disturbance (54%) observed in the present sample of unemployed women is comparatively higher than those of Western samples reported previously. Implications of these preliminary findings for research on psychological aspects of unemployment among Hong Kong Chinese were discussed.

Notions of the welfare state in China revisited

mer, 1981). After the Second World War, the term was used as a ’convenient shorthand way of referring to the social and economic policy changes then taking place’ (Johnson, 1987: 3). Generally speaking, the discourse on the definition was gradually shifted to other forms of state intervention through various social programmes and legislation. The expansion of the definition has provided us with a broader understanding of the subject but, at the same time, obscured its boundary. One of the confusions is the difference between the welfare state and the welfare society. While ’welfare state’ refers to

Care regimes and responses: East Asian experiences compared

The five Asian societies reviewed in this special issue have exhibited similar demographic trends, which have, in turn, presented similar challenges to their care systems. Various care regimes and arrangements have been initiated to tackle these recent challenges. Care regimes rely on care services from different sectors. While the family retains its significant role in all these societies, its care burden has been shared by other sectors, especially the state. While the state primarily provides funding, community and market sectors are playing a more significant role in the provision of services. Demographic and political forces (e.g. feminism, elderly and childrens rights advocacy) have compelled the state to expand its involvement; however, the details of the reconstituted care regimes and the redistribution of roles and burdens reflect each societys institutional legacy, their ideological commitment to state or market, and their range of alternatives to state provision.

Risk, individualization and family: managing the family in Hong Kong

The family is the most fundamental unit of society in Hong Kong and the core element of welfare arrangements. Nevertheless, the family system has been challenged by various social forces. Using the concepts of ‘risk’ and ‘individualization’ proposed by Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, this paper examines how family structures and values have become more uncertain, flexible and unconventional. Effective family policy requires a realistic understanding of the boundaries of the states intervention in an increasingly individualized and reflexively modern society. The paper advocates a cautious but open-minded approach to family intervention.

Risk, Reflexivity and Sub-politics: Environmental Politics in Hong Kong

Abstract Increasing attention has been drawn to the risk posed by air pollution, a risk that has wide-ranging effects (on the environment, health, the economy, culture, urban design and politics). New environmental movements and political agendas have emerged in the past 10 years. A growing number of social groups have been formed to express their concerns and challenge established laws and rules. This paper will borrow Ulrich Becks concepts of risk, reflexivity and sub-politics to analyse the new social movement that addresses air quality in Hong Kong. While previous environmental problems were considered manageable, air pollution is a risk that seems to defy solution. As a result of the institutional failure to deal with this risk, there has been a new alignment of interests and the emergence of a new form of politics—a sub-politics that leads to a sharing of power between established and informal politics, and the government and society. Although established political institutions have been receptive, altering the rules and increasing public participation, the extent of sub-politicization is still limited. This is due, in part, to the overall absence of reflexive self-regulation among individuals in the society, which might lead to a state of ‘disorganized irresponsibility’.

Comparative framework for care regime analysis in East Asia

This special issue focuses on the changing care regimes for children and older people in the East Asian societies of China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. As a result of dramatic changes in family structures and behaviours, each society has been struggling to reform its care regime. Each chapter addresses the impact of demographic trends on the care regimes, and the conclusion highlights the similarities and differences among these societies. The purpose of this introductory chapter is to map the demographic shifts and the changing profile of the family in each society, and to present a framework for the analysis of both elder and child care.