Social Policy and Change in East Asia

[T]he chapters provide interesting perspectives on particular aspects of the evolution of social policy in the region. The book . . . provides a useful starting point for work on a number of key issues that require more systematic comparative analysis—such as gender, inequality and the different institutional arrangements and relationships between state, market and household across countries within the region. * The China Journal *
Social Policy and Change in East Asia, edited by James Lee, James Midgley, and Yapeng Zhu is one of the most recent scholarly works on critical social policy and social development issues covering key East Asian countries, namely China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. Much meticulous effort has been put into collating fresh data and information on the social changes facing the respective countries. Various insightful analyses have been undertaken by the authors to present a picture of the changing social policy and social development landscapes of the major East Asian region. Many relevant areas such as asset building, social security and insurance, housing, healthcare, financial meltdown, labor condition, and corporate governance, which have bearing on social and economic lives of the people in the respective countries, are vividly presented. The monograph is worthy of reading by students, academics, researchers, policy makers, and people who are interested in the social, economic, and political developments of the major East Asian region. -- S. Vasoo, National University of Singapore
This book offers a timely and comprehensive review of how social policy in various East Asian countries has responded to recent social and economic changes. Not only does it present rich and up-to-date information on relevant policy areas in East Asia, it also introduces new analytic perspectives in linking social and economic change with policy development in selected East Asian countries. An outstanding contribution of this book is its new insight in linking change and social policy, which has extended the analysis of social policy beyond the static 'regime type' perspective that dominates current social policy literature. I am sure this book will be valued by teachers and students of social policy and also those with a general interest in East Asia. -- Ngai Ming Yip, City University of Hong Kong
In exploring a wide range of welfare issues in East Asia, this inspiring book successfully proposes new approaches to understanding social policy that move beyond a reliance on traditional Western-based models. Drawing attention to the importance of looking at the region’s social policies in relation to volatile, rather than linear, economic trajectories, the authors seek to invent more comprehensive theories for explaining public policies that shape and improve people’s well-beings. The book is highly recommended, not only for specialists in the region, but also for all those more broadly interested in social policy and economic development. -- Yosuke Hirayama, Kobe University