Shifting boundaries of care in Asia: an introduction

Abstract

PurposeAsia's traditional experiences with care provision differ considerably from those of the West given the prevalent family‐based social norms about care and policies in this region. In recent decades, Asia has experienced profound social and demographic transformations and is thus faced with significant challenges around care. However, care in Asian countries is a relatively less studied topic. There is an urgent need for a comparative study on recent policy and practice changes in care for the elderly and young children in different regions of Asia. The purpose of this special issue is to examine complicated boundary shift in care provision and financing between the state, market, community and family in East, Southeast and South Asia and to explore the implications of these changes in care policies and practices for social stratification by class and gender in Asia.Design/methodology/approachThe introduction to this special issue gives an overview of the social and demographic transformations and new strains on care in Asia as a background and introduces the framework of welfare mix employed in this special issue, especially the concepts of social care and the welfare/care diamond.FindingsThe introduction summarizes the variations in regard to the governance and provision of care between different Asian countries and compares the differences in the state involvement between Asia and Europe.Originality/valueThe authors also discuss some of their contributions to methodological approaches and analytical frameworks in studying care and the implications of the current research for future studies.