The Social Science Library » Individualism, Collectivism and the Marketization of Social Security: Chile and China Compared (Marketization of Social Security: A Cross-National Perspective)

Individualism, Collectivism and the Marketization of Social Security: Chile and China Compared (Marketization of Social Security: A Cross-National Perspective)

Author(s)	Midgley, James; Tang, Kwong-Leung
Abstract	Proposals for the marketization of social security are often couched in technical terms which stress its fiscal, managerial and economic advantages. Two broad ideological traditions in Western social and political thought, individualism and collectivism, are central to debates about the marketization of social security. This article contrasts developments in the Republic of Chile with those in the People’s Republic of China in an attempt to gain further insights into the way marketization is being pursued within the wider context of ideological preferences. The two case studies suggest first, that an understanding of ideology is central to debates about the future of social security and, second, that the ideological dimensions of social security policy are complex. They show that an analysis based on a simple juxtapositioning of individualism and collectivism does not adequately explain the way ideological beliefs create policy options for social security. These ideologies should be more carefully examined for the way they sustain and facilitate state intervention in social security and provide new policy options more suited to current economic, demographic and social realities.
IssueNo	3
Pages	57-84
Article	Access to Article
Source	Review of Policy Research
VolumeNo	19
PubDate	Fall2002
ISBN_ISSN	1541-132X
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Individualism, Collectivism and the Marketization of Social Security: Chile and China Compared (Marketization of Social Security: A Cross-National Perspective)

Economic Policy