Work/Retirement, Family Relations, and Perceptions on the Pension Regime of Middle-aged Citizens in Urban China

Abstract

Focusing on urban areas of contemporary China, this thesis interrogates the interactions between the pension and retirement policy and the pathways of middle-aged citizens to retirement. At present, the pension regime in China is in the transition process, and the future direction of the pension reform is yet to be decided. The existing research mainly focuses on the pension systems and pension reforms in China from a macro-level and financial perspective. However, the experiences, expectations, and perspectives of the individuals are largely ignored. Notably, the application of qualitative research methods is relatively deficient in China. As a Grounded Theory study, this research project applies semi-structured interviews to fill in this gap. Thirty-six interviews were conducted. Through researching the opinions on the pension reform and experiences of the transitions from employment to retirement, this research identifies a gap between the choices made by the individuals and the current pension regime. The retirement pathways are increasingly individualised in urban China at present, which is in tandem with the characteristics of a postmodern society. However, the choices of older workers on work/retirement are still influenced by structural factors, such as the pension and retirement policy. The inequality in retirement incomes is significant, which is primarily created by the discriminative pension policy and cumulative (dis)advantages, and sharpened by the political environment in contemporary China. In addition, family relations interact with the work/retirement choices of middle-aged citizens as some alter their work/retirement choices to tend to family needs.