Unusual comparisons: new area studies and caring for the learning disabled in China and England

Abstract

The article explores the everyday practice of public service delivery by comparing social care of people with learning disabilities in China and England. We address three research questions: how is trust-building influenced by the beliefs and practices of local actors? How are the dilemmas posed by trust building managed by both state and local actors? What is the role of diplomacy in trust building? In section 2, we provide a rationale for our unusual comparison of China and England. In section 3, we summarise our theoretical approach of decentred governance and describe our ethnographic research method. In section 4, we describe the policy contexts of learning disabilities in Southampton and S District, Hangzhou. In section 5, we report our fieldwork on caring for those with learning disabilities. In section 6, we discuss the difference and similarities between the two policy arenas, especially using diplomacy to manage network relations. In section 7, we identify six lessons from the research and we draw the key lessons for practitioners in both countries. We offer the concluding plausible conjecture that local networks in both countries are a mix of hierarchy, markets and networks, and local actors in both networks must find diplomatic ways of managing their encounters with the state.

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ORCID for R.A.W. Rhodes: orcid.org/0000-0002-1886-2392

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