East Asian societies and welfare systems are rapidly changing, creating an increasing need for research that can help to establish sustainable and legitimate welfare systems.
This original volume considers welfare attitudes in East Asia, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macao, Singapore and Taiwan, using qualitative and quantitative research methods. Proposing new methods and approaches to analysing cross-national variations in welfare attitudes, it decentralises dominant European-based concepts and measurements and takes approaches that are sensitive to cultural and political trajectories and the impact of colonialism and gender.
This book explores the influence of contextual and individual factors, such as family roles and values, on citizens' welfare attitudes. It also studies social legitimacy and social bonds to understand how to design and implement sustainable welfare policies.

Trude Sundberg is Senior Lecturer Social Policy in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent and Director of the University of Kent's Q-Step Centre.

1. Introduction

2. Studying Welfare Attitudes

3. Trends and Approaches in East Asia

4. The Importance of Political Contexts

5. The Importance of Cultural Contexts

6. A Qualitative Study in Singapore and Mainland China

7. Conclusion