Research On Social Integration Of Retired Athletes In China

China has always attached great importance to the development and security of retired athletes,and issued a series of policies from 2003 to 2014,which have played a positive role in such problems as "difficulty in re-employment","poor career transition" and "low livelihood capital".In recent years,with the events of "gymnastics champion Zhang Shangwu busking on the subway" and " marathon runner Guo Ping forced to sell medals due to poor living conditions" being reported by the media,the livelihood and security of retired athletes have attracted the attention of the whole society again.During the National People's Congress and CPPCC meetings from 2012 to 2018,CPPCC members Zhang Xiaoling,NPC deputies Xu Dongxiang and Ye Shiwen have repeatedly proposed improving the livelihood of retired athletes.They put forward proposals such as "optimizing the policy of safeguarding retired athletes,perfecting the social security system,accelerating the social integration of athletes and improving their livelihood ability ".Deputies to the National People's Congress(NPC)and members of the Chinese people's political consultative conference(CPPCC)have put forward proposals on many occasions,which show that the livelihood and security of athletes from the "tower base" and "tower waist" are still very serious after retirement.These problems need to be solved by all sectors of society,and the proper solution of these problems will be beneficial to the sustained development of competitive sports and the realization of the goal of building a powerful sports country.Whether retired athletes can successfully integrate into society is the key prerequisite for realizing sustainable livelihood,which will affect the investment attitude of the society to competitive sports.At present,there is a lack of systematic and in-depth research on the connotation of retired athletes' social integration,how to evaluate the social integration,what factors affect the social integration,and how to help retired athletes to successfully integrate into the society.Based on the theory of social integration and the theory of continuing socialization,this study systematically studies the connotation of the social integration of retired athletes,the evaluation index system of social integration,the evaluation of social integration status,the influencing factors of social integration,and the countermeasures and suggestions of social integration by using the research methods of combining theory with demonstration,qualitative and quantitative analysis,whole and case study.The main research conclusions are as follows:Firstly,the social integration of retired athletes refers to the process of gradually narrowing the economic,social,cultural and psychological differences with the nonathletes(social mainstream)group through their own efforts and external help in the face of changes in their roles,environment and occupation after retirement.Secondly,the evaluation index of social integration of retired athletes includes four first-level indicators: economic integration,cultural integration,social integration and psychological integration;nine second-level indicators: residence status,income and expenditure level,work situation,values,behavior habits,social interaction,social participation,psychological distance,psychological perception;and 24 third-level indicators.Thirdly,this study conducted an empirical investigation on the social integration degree of 756 retired athletes,and the results showed that:(1)the overall social integration degree of retired athletes is at a medium level;(2)social integration of retired athletes presents differential integration,in which cultural integration is the best,social integration is the second,and psychological integration and economic integration are the worst;(3)the individual social integration degree of most retired athletes is also at the moderate level;(4)there are no significant differences in the dimensions of social integration between different genders,the years of retirement have significant differences in the dimensions of psychological integration,the level of cultural has significant differences in the three factors of total economic integration,incomeand expenditure,and work conditions.In addition,the empirical results of the social integration of retired athletes were further verified by the interview analysis of 12 cases.Fourthly,this paper uses the grounded theory to construct the theoretical model of influencing factors of social integration of retired athletes,including social factors,family factors and individual factors.Social factors include policy system,regional difference and social support;Family factors include family social status and family living environment;Individual factors include individual human capital,individual professional capital,individual psychological characteristics and individual behavior.Fifth,this paper uses quantitative analysis to verify the theoretical model of influencing factors of social integration of retired athletes: the modified first-order and second-order confirmatory factor models are acceptable.In addition,according to the factor load quantity of the second-order confirmatory factor model,the size of the influencing factors of the social integration of retired athletes is individual factor,social factor and family factor in turn.The size of each index in individual factor is individual human capital,individual professional capital,personality psychological characteristic and individual behavior performance in order;the size of each index in social factor is policy system,regional difference and social support situation in order;There is no significant difference between the two indexes of family social status and family living environment in family factor.Sixthly,this paper systematically analyzes the social integration status and the influencing factors of retired athletes.From the three aspects of society,fa mily and individual,this paper puts forward some countermeasures and suggest ions,such as "perfecting policy system ","perfecting training system","constru cting support system","improving family situation","perfecting retired athletes" and "intervening social work" and so on.