Search Results
This chapter introduces the rationale and background, and sets the context to the study of intergenerational relations, drawing analysis from a wide range of expertise within and beyond social gerontology. It offers a global perspective that reflects the wide-ranging geographic locations examined. It describes the macro-level domestic and global changes which are likely to shape interpersonal relationships within families. It notes that this volume draws on both theoretical perspectives and empirical analysis in relation to contemporary exchange rationales and practices of family support, and the changing nature and patterns of intergenerational relations. It addresses these issues in diverse national and cultural contexts. It identifies some of the driving forces — external opportunities and pressures — contributing to the transformation of family forms, ideologies, and functions.
This chapter examines the changing nature and patterns of East Asian practices on family support and reciprocity. It uses the housing dimension to explore the flow of support, but looks beyond the conventional nuclear family households to include three interrelated generations within families. It identifies changing strategies and practices of family relations to cope with the wider and rapid structural changes taking place in the region. It notes that the analysis of the empirical data is focused on a comparison of two dynamic cities in East Asia — Tokyo and Shanghai.
This chapter concludes the volume with some reflections on policy issues, covering the debate and analysis on state-family interaction (intergenerational relations and welfare states) and identifying the themes that have emerged throughout the volume, such as ‘are new patterns of reciprocity emerging?’. It addresses a missing piece of the puzzle — the role of social policy. It provides some reflections on the role of governments and policy issues influencing family roles, functions, and relationships, and whether and how policy and practice might further support intergenerational reciprocity.
This book aims to provide a new perspective on social policy in Britain and Japan, by comparing policies shared between the two countries. Japan has an established but somewhat different welfare system from Britain, with well-practised occupational, family and community welfare. Therefore, interesting contrasts can be drawn with East Asia by comparing such dissimilar cultures and socioeconomic situations. The book presents an up-to-date and detailed account of how these areas of social policy have developed in the postwar period in Britain and Japan. This chapter introduces concepts such as social policy, social change, welfare needs, and changing families and state.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, both Britain and Japan are facing similar issues caused by globalisation, slower economic growth, and a rapidly ageing population. Social policy in the two societies, which has developed differently due to the differences in their national resources, socio-economic systems, cultural values and political agendas, is at an interesting turning point.
Comparing social policies:
examines topical issues with up-to-date information;
compares and contrasts selected policy areas between the two societies;
presents original material written by leading scholars in each country.
This original book will be of great interest to academics and students, as well as policy makers and practitioners internationally, who are interested in various fields of social policy in Britain and Japan.
With socio-economic and demographic changes taking place in contemporary societies, new patterns of family relations are forming partly due to significant family changes, value shifts, precariousness in the labour market, and increasing mobility within and beyond national boundaries.
This book explores the exchange of support between generations and examines variations in contemporary practices and rationales in different regions and societies. It draws on both theoretical perspectives and empirical analysis in relation to new patterns of family reciprocity. Contributors discuss both newly emerging patterns and more established ones which are now being affected due to various opportunities and pressures in contemporary societies.
The book is split into two parts, the first (Chapters one to four) reviews key theoretical and conceptual debates in this field, while the second (Chapter five to nine) offers insights and an understanding of exchange practices based on case studies from different regions and different relationships.
The ageing of the population has affected many industrial societies, upsetting the existing balance of financial, material and instrumental resources across generations. The remarkable speed of societal ageing in Japan also poses a considerable challenge to the family and the state partly due to the increasing need for nursing care. This chapter explores, in the context of postwar demographics and socioeconomic and policy changes, the changing patterns of intergenerational relations, and in particular, the reciprocal dimension of the exchange of goods and services between ageing parents and their adult children. Given the specific cultural norms and traditions, this chapter first examines how intergenerational relations have been perceived in Japan, and how they are transforming with particular reference to living arrangements, co-residence in particular, and the provision of nursing care. It also discusses the wider issues linked to the development of social policy as well as gender issues.
In contemporary societies with slower economic growth and increased rates of home ownership, asset transfers are of increasing importance for families as a way of transmitting advantages over generations. Compared to the positive impact, however, little is known about how inheritance generates disputes, tensions or dissatisfaction among family members, and how law, policy and practice play a role in this process. Drawing evidence from English court cases, this article develops categories of asset transfers over generations that cause or accentuate disputes in families, and contributes to theoretical debates on family solidarity, conflict and ambivalence by examining how such family conflicts are embedded in a wider family history and established social and institutional systems. The analysis, based on the three-fold framework of contested intentions of transfers, challenged distributions of assets and unexpected timing of transfers, demonstrates that family relations rest on a delicate balance of autonomy and dependency in families. It also highlights the critical interaction between institutional systems and interpersonal family relations. The lack of accurate knowledge and different interpretations of inheritance laws and intestacy rules among potential testators and beneficiaries contribute to family disputes over inheritance.
