The Study On The Early Child Care Model In China Under The Social Care Perspective

With the continuous development of the socialist market economy and the changes of the population structure and family structure,more and more families are facing the pressure that can’t be borne and the difficulty that can’t be solved by individual ability in early childhood care,which needs the intervention of the state and society.However,in the process of studying the policy process and practice of early child care in China,it is found that the current early child care in China is characterized by separation of responsibilities.On the one hand,under the vague understanding of the relationship between care activities and state family,the current early child care in China tends to family responsibility and market responsibility,with less state involvement and insufficient intervention;on the other hand,under the vague understanding of the relationship between care activities and gender,the current early childhood care in China tends to female responsibility,which affects the implementation of women’s social rights.The separation of responsibility model of early child care is based on the institutional arrangement of social insurance paradigm.Under the assumption of market economy,the social insurance paradigm is a comprehensive analysis system,which takes the citizenship under the relationship between the state and the market as the theoretical path,adjusts the class relations under the Market economy system as the purpose,solves the dependence of the labor force on the market as the problem-oriented,takes the paid workers as the guarantee object,and takes cash payment as the main policy tool.After the reform and opening-up,China has established a market economic system,and the welfare function of the unit is gradually weakening.In order to achieve rapid economic development,the state has shifted from a comprehensive intervention in public service policies and welfare system to a social insurance mode.The social insurance paradigm and its market system foundation,combined with the traditional "family-based" concept and traditional gender order,have formed a mutually reinforcing relationship without effective external force.In the process of market-oriented transformation,theseparation of public and private sectors has gradually formed,pushing the functions related to reproduction back to the family,resulting in the increase of family burden and women becoming "inferior" labor force in the market,which leads to the fact that the early child care in China mainly focuses on private areas and women.This will aggravate two major social contradictions,one is class contradiction,the other is gender contradiction.The social care paradigm goes beyond the social insurance paradigm.It assumes that the welfare state is in the traditional gender norms,taking the neutral and inclusive citizenship as the theoretical path,taking the unpaid caregivers and the vulnerable groups receiving care as the research objects,and solving the care dependence as the main research problem.The welfare production mode under the social care paradigm is a responsibility-sharing mechanism.On the one hand,the responsibility-sharing mechanism of the social care paradigm adheres to the principle of welfare pluralism.It emphasizes a mixed care mode of "state+market+family+voluntary organization",and takes "Care Diamond" as a new way to construct early child care.On the other hand,it emphasizes gender equality in care provision.The policy tools of early child care under the responsibility-sharing model include economic policy,time policy and service policy.From the perspective of social effects,early child care under the responsibility-sharing model can effectively promote gender equality,class equality and reduce child poverty.The responsibility-sharing model in China has cultural and institutional foundations.From a cultural perspective,on the one hand,the traditional family-based culture requires that early child care be based on the family.On the other hand,the introduction of western feminism and children’s welfare thought gave birth to the germination of children’s public education.On the basis of institution,on the one hand,public ownership decides that China as the socialist country should assume the responsibility of early child care.On the other hand,market economy provides space and possibility for market and other social subjects to participate in the care of early child.The responsibility-sharing model calls for the establishment of an early child care mechanism aimed at improving the welfare level of early child and achievinggender equality.Under the unique cultural foundation and institutional basis of China,the construction of responsibility sharing model should start from two aspects.On the one hand,it is necessary to carry out the construction of the main mechanism of the responsibility sharing model.In the construction of the main mechanism,it is necessary to take the family as the core,the government as the main responsibility body,the market and social organizations as the basis,and comprehensively improve the welfare level of early child and achieve gender equality,including coordinated development mechanisms for sector cooperation and coordinated development mechanisms for gender equality.On the other hand,it is necessary to carry out the construction of a policy mechanism,through the use of time-support policies,economic support policies and service support policies formulated by the government,a department-cooperative,gender-equitable and widely selected early child care system will be established,establishing a departmental,gender-equitable,and widely chosen early child care system.However,due to the insufficient input from the government,poor development of voluntary organization and the path dependence of public service management system,the early child care in China is facing the challenge of changing from a single welfare provider to a multi-welfare provider.The root of the challenge lies in the lack of government financial input,the path dependence of the public service management system and the poor development of social organizations.To this end,we should establish a financial investment guarantee mechanism,improve the government’s ability to manage,actively cultivate and develop the early child care market,and actively cultivate and develop social organizations,so that the responsibility sharing model of early child care can be realized.