ABSTRACT
This chapter looks into the context of social policy reform in China by offering relevant theoretical, comparative and historical perspectives. Western scholars, as well as academics in some westernized Chinese societies, accustomed to think in terms of welfare state social policies, have tended to find that the socialist state of mainland China did not measure up to their expectations. Policy analysis using dominant models may not always do justice to all the forces, causes and effects of the policy change process. A broader view is needed to integrate the policy-making system with the society within which it operates. A political perspective in policy analysis holds that policy development is a result of political disagreement over the nature of the problems confronting society and over what, if anything, should be done about them. Contextual approach is important, however, for it sets an aim for an individual, a group, or the society as a whole for exploring barriers to rationality.
