Sam W. K. Yu

An excess of culture: the myth of shared care in the Chinese community in Britain

This paper aims to study the applicability of the shared care approach in the Chinese community in Britain. The discussion is based on findings of two studies on family care of older people in London conducted respectively in 1991 and 1998. Both studies examined the needs of Chinese older people and whether and how their needs were met by informal care. The findings show that there is a strong belief among Chinese families that older people should live with their sons. While the Chinese families were highly motivated to take care of their older family members, and many of them felt obliged to live with their parents and wanted to give assistance to them, not all were, in practice, able to do so as much as they would have wished. Shortfall between what older people needed and the assistance they received was obvious, especially in relation to personal care. It is argued that traditional Chinese values still carry some influence in obliging the Chinese to look after their elderly family members. However, they are not sufficiently influential to guarantee sufficient care. A unique model of shared care is thus clearly and precisely called for by the findings of this study.

Social exclusion of Chinese people in Britain

This article examines the social exclusion experienced by Chinese people in Britain. It challenges the view that the problem is caused by the cultural characteristics of the Chinese community. It shows that the main cause lies in their way of seeking social integration through market participation. The necessity for many Chinese families to secure their market position not only keeps them at a distance from mainstream society but also from their own ethnic community. While they are not outsiders in either of these groups, they only have one foot in each of them.

The sexual division of care in mainland China and Hong Kong

The aim of this paper is to explore the extent to which the sexual division of domestic labour in Hong Kong and mainland China is influenced by traditional Chinese values and contemporary political and economic factors. It discovers that women in these two societies assume far more caring responsibilities than men. This is similar to women in traditional Chinese society. An important reason is that the political and economic conditions in Hong Kong and mainland China favour the reproduction of traditional Chinese values. Hence it can be argued that the unequal division of domestic labour between men and women will continue as long as the political and economic conditions are unfavourable to women. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1997.

Using defamilisation typologies to study the Confucian welfare regime

Since Esping-Andersen classified the 18 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries into the “three worlds of welfare capitalism” in 1990, the comparative studies of welfare have been dominated by the responses to this study. This paper focuses on two of these responses. The first response is concerned with the gender insensitivity of Esping-Andersens way of categorizing the welfare regimes. The second response is concerned with the issue that the East Asian countries are under-represented in the 18 OECD countries. To make contributions to these responses, two analytical tasks are conducted. First, we build new defamilisation typologies covering both East Asian countries and OECD countries. Second, we demonstrate that the evidence generated from the typologies suggest that some of the indispensable conditions for the development of a Confucian welfare regime do not exist.

Culturally sensitive approaches to health and social care Uniformity and diversity in the Chinese community in the UK

English With the focus on how Chinese older people in the UK use health and social care services, this article demonstrates how these services’ sensitivity is undermined by mistaken assumptions about whether ethnic-minority groups organize health and care according to their cultural principles, and the unity of these principles. French Centré sur la façon dont les Chinois âgés utilisent les services de santé et d’accompagnement social en Grande Bretagne, cet article démontre comment la perception de ces services est biaisée par des représentations erronées selon lesquelles les groupes des minorités ethniques organisent la santé et l’accompagnement social selon leurs principes culturels et en vertu de l’unité de ces principes. Spanish Este artículo se centra en cómo las personas chinas de tercera edad usan los servicios sociales y de salud en Gran Bretaña. Hay suposiciones erróneas acerca de la unidad de principios culturales, y acerca de cómo los grupos étnicos organ izan el cuidado social y el cuidado de la salud. Estas suposiciones debilitan la sensibilidad cultural hacia estos grupos.

Defamilisation of Twenty-Two Countries: Its Implications for the Study of East Asian Welfare Regime

Two analytical tasks have been conducted in this article. The first is to construct a defamilisation typology that covers eighteen OECD members and four tiger economies (namely Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore). The second is to demonstrate this typologys contribution to the debate on the existence of two essential preconditions for the development of an all-encompassing East Asian welfare regime: (1) the existence of significant differences in the welfare systems between the East Asian countries and the non-East Asian OECD countries; and (2) the existence of significant similarities in the welfare systems of the East Asian countries.

The sensitivity of United Kingdom health-care services to the diverse needs of Chinese-origin older people.

ABSTRACT This paper is a contribution to the debate on how to make health-care services in the United Kingdom more responsive to the needs of older people who are members of recent immigrant groups. The focus is on the Chinese-origin elders, and the objective is to demonstrate their diverse migrant histories, cultural backgrounds and attitudes to both ‘traditional’ and Western health-care practices. The underlying argument is that if National Health Service staff had a better understanding of the diversity of Chinese older people, this would make an important contribution to making the service more sensitive to their needs. To develop this argument, this paper carries out three main analytical tasks. The first is to discuss the range of strategies adopted by Chinese people in general and Chinese older people in particular to improve their health. The second is to study Chinese peoples heritage of exploring different methods to organise health in response to foreign culture. The third considers the ways in which the sensitivity of British health-care services to the needs of ethnic-minority groups can be improved, with a focus on the culturagram instrument and procedure. Three contrasting examples are presented.

Defamilisation and familisation measures – can they reduce the adverse effects of Pro-Market Pension Reforms On Women In Hong Kong And The Uk?

This article explores the impact of defamilisation and familisation measures for women with caring responsibilities and their implications for access to pensions in later life in Hong Kong and the UK in the context of pro-market pension reforms. The first part of the article discusses pro-market pension reforms and their effects on women, the second discusses the potential role of defamilisation and familisation measures in reducing the adverse effects of pro-market pension reforms, and the third focuses on pension policies and examples of defamilisation and familisation measures in Hong Kong and the UK. Finally, on the basis of the discussion of the link between defamilisation and familisation measures and pension measures for women, we assert that both Hong Kong and the UK still have much to do in developing multi-option measures throughout the life course, measures that could limit future inequalities in retirement between men and women.

Understanding the diverse health needs of Chinese people in Britain and developing cultural sensitive services

• Summary: This article aims to examine the diverse health needs of Chinese people in Britain and explore how the understanding of this diversity contributes to the development of culturally sensitive services. Two arguments are highlighted. First, it is undoubtedly insensitive to impose mainstream health services on ethnic minority groups, such as Chinese people in Britain, as it neglects to accommodate the heritage that they want to uphold. Second, it may be equally insensitive to take for granted the fact that all members of ethnic minority groups prefer to organize their health according to their heritage. • Findings: A better understanding of the diverse preferences for health services of ethnic minority groups in general and Chinese people’s in particular would help health professionals to organize and deliver their services in a more culturally sensitive manner. The article has three main parts. The first part examines the importance of cultural sensitivity practices in health services. The second part explores the diverse health needs of Chinese people in Britain. The last part introduces two analytical tools, namely the culturagram and Titterton’s paradigm for welfare. • Applications: By applying these tools to four cases, the discussion shows how they contribute to the understanding of the diverse health needs of Chinese people and the development of culturally sensitive services.

The diversity based approach to culturally sensitive practices

This paper discusses the main ideas of the Diversity Based approach to culturally sensitive practices in health and social care services.This approach is important in emphasizing the fluid nature of culture, the diversity in cultural groups and the impact of inegalitarian and racist power relations on their life. Chinese people in the UK are used as an example to demonstrate how exploration of the diversity of ethnic minority groups could strengthen cultural sensitivity. Some methods for the realization of the Diversity Based approach, such as the culturagram and user involvement, have also been highlighted.