China's Social Policy in the Context of Big Transformation: Fundamental Directions and Main Strategies

As a pivotal part of governance within the modern state, social policy has played a significant role in the process of sustaining socio-economic development. Meanwhile, social policy as a discipline of applied social sciences focuses on a rational thinking on social change and responses to societal problems. The nation-states have adjusted themselves to merge the objectives of strengthening social integration and reducing social inequalities in the context of globalization. Taking China's economic and social development as the starting point in the face of big transformation, this paper focuses on the three main areas and key directions of social policy in the process of institutional transformation in China as a middle-income country, namely, creating an active labor market, providing an alternative of family care regime and sustaining a persistent poverty reduction (social safety net) mechanism.
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