Allocation of Eldercare Responsibilities between Children and the Government in China: Does the Sense of Injustice Matter?

Abstract

China's large aging population poses grim challenges to eldercare provision. Against the background of withering traditional kinship-based eldercare and the increasing significance of government-sponsored support programs, this study draws on data from the 2013 Chinese General Social Survey to investigate not only the correlation between the sense of social injustice and the preference to allocate eldercare responsibilities between public and private agents but also how this correlation varies between urban-versus-rural regions. We find that perceived social injustice is significantly correlated with the odds of designating the government, instead of family members, to shoulder eldercare responsibilities. Further mediation analysis suggests that this correlation is mediated through concerns about eldercare. On average, the link between perceived social injustice and the preference for eldercare duty allocation is weaker in rural China than in urban China. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.