On Family and Social Security

Abstract: Different from the western historical tradition, in the eastern social structure, the traditional family in China constitutes the core and foundation of social life, providing family members with all-round protection functions including pension, medical care, maternity, relief and welfare. The alienation and ultra-stable structure of the family offset the weakening effect of the industrialization wave on the family security function to some extent. The development of information technology can promote the family function to obtain new development space, and the long-standing China culture will certainly provide strong support for it, thus promoting the family's position and function in China to find new forms of expression and new ways to play its role. Therefore, the social security reform in China should respect and rely on the role of family security.

[Keywords:] Comparison of Eastern and Western Cultures Social Security Family

In the past century, the comparative analysis of the historical, cultural traditions and social structures of the East and the West has been the focus and hot spot of China academic circles. China scholars have studied the different characteristics of social culture and different paths of social evolution in the East and the West from philosophy (religion), cultural anthropology, history, sociology, economics and psychology, and evaluated their performances. The research results obtained have important enlightenment significance for us to study the reform and perfection of social security system today.

Mr. Liang Shuming, a famous Chinese philosopher, studied the social structure of the East and the West, and revealed that the family as a social unit has different characteristics in the social structure of the East and the West. Mr. Liang inspected the three basic elements in the social structure: individuals, families and groups, and thought that these three elements have different arrangements, different positions and different social functions in the eastern and western social structures. Judging from the continuity of history and culture, the focus of western social structure is between individuals and groups, and family is very secondary. Mr. Lin Yi, a professor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, believes that this feature of western social structure constitutes the social basis and conditions for the earliest emergence of social insurance in Western Europe.

1. In the traditional social structure of China, the family is the core and foundation of social life.

(A) the core position and structural characteristics of the family in China

The eastern world, represented by China, is very different from the western society in social structure and function. In the traditional society of China, family is the core of social life and the foundation of social system. Family, not individuals or groups, constitutes the cornerstone of China's social structure, the prototype of social system and the elements of social order; It is family ethics that constitutes the basis of social ethics and the general plan of governing the country, family structure constitutes the basis of social structure and national form, and family function constitutes the basis of social function and national function; Society and country are the amplification of structure and the strengthening of function, and the reproduction and development of ethical relations based on family.

China's traditional family culture advocates more children and more happiness, and a couple usually raise 4-6 children. Among them, the eldest son is the main dependence and heir of family inheritance, parental rights inheritance, family property inheritance and family relationship maintenance. The typical family structure in China is that many generations live under one roof, from three generations to four generations and five generations. Unmarried children live with their parents and grandparents, and married children are separated or not, but they advocate no distinction. Many generations and children eat the same pot, one door goes in and out, plows the fields together, respects an ancestor together, is respected as a model, and is admired and admired by the four towns and eight miles.

At the top of the family structure are parents. The parents of traditional families in China (usually male, occasionally female, but not necessarily) cannot be completely equal to the heads of modern families. He not only represents the whole family, but also means authority, holding power for all family members. He is the maker, executor and defender of "family rules", the decision-maker and manager of family affairs, and the organizer and coordinator of family production and life. He is the core and ruler of the family. Under the rule of parents, family members implement the internal system norms of "men and women are different and aging in an orderly manner", and "father is the son and husband is the wife".

(B) the basic functions of the family in China

In the process of inheriting historical and cultural traditions, the traditional family in China has gradually formed three basic functions.

1, organize family members to participate in farming or manual operation, and get benefits from it. Many traditional brand-name products in China, such as Zhang Xiaoquan scissors, Quanjude roast duck, Naypyidaw cloth shoes and Tongrentang pills, were bred in family workshops.

2. Maintain food, clothing, housing and transportation for all family members. Traditionally, the residence may be a mansion of a rich family, which is relatively exquisite, but it may also be just a shack of a poor family. Travel mainly depends on feet, and rich people rely on sedan chairs. And three meals a day is the most important and basic thing in the family, which constitutes the main content of daily housework. Every festive holiday, making a new dress is an important symbol, and it is also the main wish of the family. Especially during the Spring Festival, rich families naturally have to make new clothes for each member (including servants), and families with poor economic conditions have to try their best to complete the goal of making new clothes.

3. Provide living security for all family members. This is a more important function of the traditional family in China, and it is also the focus of our research. Traditional China has a wide range of family protection and strong protection functions, forming a special protection mechanism. In fact, the functions of food, clothing, housing and transportation provided by the above-mentioned families have already had the significance of protection; But more importantly, the traditional family provides a full range of security functions for family members, including pension, medical care, maternity, relief and welfare. Taking old-age care as an example, we know that "raising children to prevent old age" is the basic reason for traditional China couples to have children, which means that traditional families solve the problem of old-age care by raising children. From the perspective of modern social security, the cost of bearing and raising children can be regarded as the security fund paid by working-age parents for their future pension. This fund is paid and accumulated year by year with the growth of children's age, which can preserve and increase the value in the gradual growth of children. When parents lose their ability to work in their later years and their children reach working age, the original pension fund will be paid until their parents die. From the perspective of traditional families, the payment, accumulation, appreciation and payment of this pension fund is a very natural "natural" process, and it is a very smooth process. There seems to be no transition node or link. The same is true for other guarantees such as medical care. In short, in traditional families in China, the risks of birth, aging, illness and death of the elderly are guaranteed by the family; The expenses of family security are all borne by the family, and the accumulation and appreciation of security funds and intergenerational transfer payments must be completed in the family. Parents make overall arrangements, and other members perform their duties.

Second, the nature and characteristics of the traditional family security function in China

China's family security function has been strengthened and improved under the nourishment of traditional cultural spirits such as Confucianism, which is manifested in the following special provisions.

(A) the family as a carrier, naturally realize the security function, naturally complete the security process.

In a considerable sense, family and family security have become two sides of the same thing, which complement each other and are indispensable. Every family has a security function; Only a family that provides security functions can become a family and survive and develop. The process of family survival and development is the process of family security. It is this special structure and its guarantee function that makes the traditional China family occupy the position of foundation and cornerstone in the social structure and become the core carrier of social life. It can be seen that the structure and function of the family in China, as well as its position and role in the social structure and social life determined by it, are indeed different from those in the West. This is the institutional basis and logical starting point that we must seriously consider when investigating the reform and innovation of social security system and studying the arrangement of social security system.

(B) Middle-aged family members bear the burden of "double food"

In the traditional family security model in China, middle-aged family members have to pay for supporting their parents who have lost their ability to work, and also pay for raising their children. "There are old people in the world and little people in the world", which is the case. Therefore, they become the pillars of the family, and the number and strength of middle-aged family members in a family often become the main factor to determine whether the family is stable and prosperous. Examining the evolution history of traditional families in China, we find that the reason why the "double pay" burden did not crush the family pillars is that the traditional families in China established the internal system of "having more children" to keep the family population younger, thus realizing the function of reducing the double burden of "double pay" family security for every middle-aged working member, thus preventing the family security mechanism from collapsing within a time span of one or two generations. This is the institutional origin and economic background of China's historical and cultural tradition of "many children and many blessings". In this context, "many children" and "many blessings" are intrinsically related. It should be noted that once we lose the condition of a younger population structure and face the challenge of an aging population, we have to seriously consider the problem of overweight payment burden of middle-aged people (which can be equivalent to "middle-aged people" in the transition plan) and make efforts and choices to find new solutions.

(3) The safeguard mechanism has certain fragility.

Although family security can smoothly realize the vertical adjustment of intergenerational transfer, due to the scope of a family (generally not exceeding one family), there are many institutional obstacles in its horizontal adjustment, such as property ownership, family consanguinity, paternalistic management decision-making model, geographical conditions and so on. Therefore, although family security has the advantage of "the boat is easy to turn around", it does have the defect of "it is difficult to resist strong winds and waves". Historically, some originally powerful families have become increasingly dilapidated and declining due to the serious illness or death of family members (especially middle-aged family members). Such examples are also common. The weakening of family security has become the main symbol of family decline. However, it should be noted that the fragility of family security requires the development of social security and requires the community to play a more important role in social security reform and institutional arrangements. Abstract: Different from the western historical tradition, in the eastern social structure, the traditional family in China constitutes the core and foundation of social life, providing family members with all-round protection functions including pension, medical care, maternity, relief and welfare. The alienation and ultra-stable structure of the family offset the weakening effect of the industrialization wave on the family security function to some extent. The development of information technology can promote the family function to obtain new development space, and the long-standing China culture will certainly provide strong support for it, thus promoting the family's position and function in China to find new forms of expression and new ways to play its role. Therefore, the social security reform in China should respect and rely on the role of family security.