Family as a Socio-economic Actor in the Political Economies of East and South-East Asian Welfare Capitalisms

TY - JOUR

T1 - Family as a Socio-economic Actor in the Political Economies of East and South-East Asian Welfare Capitalisms

AU - Papadopoulos, Theodoros

AU - Roumpakis, Antonios

N1 - © 2017, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

PY - 2017/11

Y1 - 2017/11

N2 - In this article, we revisit Karl Polanyi's concept of ‘oikos’ in order to reconceptualize the role of the family as both a welfare provider and an economic actor in the social reproduction of East and South East Asian welfare capitalisms. Our article is structured in four parts. First, we critically review existing approaches on the characteristics of welfare capitalism in East and South East Asia. We argue that existing approaches tend to isolate family as a welfare provider and neglect how the role of the family is institutionalized as a collective actor. The second part focuses on the role of the family in the social reproduction of welfare capitalism, and explores how, in East and South East Asia, the specific conditions for family's role as an economic actor were institutionalized historically. The third part revisits Polanyi's concept of ‘oikos’ and how ‘householding’ constitutes one of the most important forms of economic action allowing us to examine the family as a socio-economic actor. In the fourth section, we provide an analysis of families' available strategies and discuss evidence related to private education expenditure, household debt and labour market income share. We conclude by highlighting the need to re-articulate the importance of family as a collective socio-economic actor that, despite recent reforms and path departures, remains at the epicentre of East and South East Asian welfare capitalisms.

AB - In this article, we revisit Karl Polanyi's concept of ‘oikos’ in order to reconceptualize the role of the family as both a welfare provider and an economic actor in the social reproduction of East and South East Asian welfare capitalisms. Our article is structured in four parts. First, we critically review existing approaches on the characteristics of welfare capitalism in East and South East Asia. We argue that existing approaches tend to isolate family as a welfare provider and neglect how the role of the family is institutionalized as a collective actor. The second part focuses on the role of the family in the social reproduction of welfare capitalism, and explores how, in East and South East Asia, the specific conditions for family's role as an economic actor were institutionalized historically. The third part revisits Polanyi's concept of ‘oikos’ and how ‘householding’ constitutes one of the most important forms of economic action allowing us to examine the family as a socio-economic actor. In the fourth section, we provide an analysis of families' available strategies and discuss evidence related to private education expenditure, household debt and labour market income share. We conclude by highlighting the need to re-articulate the importance of family as a collective socio-economic actor that, despite recent reforms and path departures, remains at the epicentre of East and South East Asian welfare capitalisms.

KW - Debt

KW - East and South East Asia

KW - Family

KW - Oikos

KW - Social reproduction

KW - Welfare capitalism

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85030250380&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/spol.12336

DO - 10.1111/spol.12336

M3 - Article

SN - 1467-9515

VL - 51

SP - 857

EP - 875

JO - Social Policy and Administration

JF - Social Policy and Administration

IS - 6

ER -