Care as critique of care: public services, social security, and ritual responsiveness

Feuchtwang, Stephan (2023) Care as critique of care: public services, social security, and ritual responsiveness. China Quarterly, 254. 354 - 365. ISSN 0305-7410

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Abstract

Socialist governance and popular sovereignty require state administration of care. In the People's Republic of China (PRC) today, such state care is provided in the form of public services and in the guarantee of social security. Ideally, different levels of government should foster relations of care in local communities and remain responsive to the people. Local self-government, relations of mutual support and ritual communities, however, reveal the deficits of state care. Much like general philosophies of care, such local ethics of care propose universal benchmarks against which social practice can be measured. This article outlines the main contours of state care in the post-Mao Zedong PRC, and contrasts its findings with empirical research on public services, social security and ritual responsiveness. Mutual help, neighbourhood communities and ritual practice, in particular, provide alternative models of care. As such, they can be extended and universalized, and offer possibilities for a critique of care.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-quar...
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author
Divisions:	Anthropology
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) J Political Science > JC Political theory
Date Deposited:	06 Mar 2023 12:45
Last Modified:	22 Apr 2024 19:21
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/118347

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