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Felt-Suffering and Its Social Variations in China

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World Suffering and Quality of Life

Part of the book series: Social Indicators Research Series ((SINS,volume 56))

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Abstract

This chapter provides an analysis of the Chinese General Social Surveys of 2005 and 2010 with a focus on “felt-suffering” as measured by poor health, physical suffering, and mental suffering. All three of these measures increased from 2005 to 2010. During the 5-year span, worsening living conditions for older people, lower-status people, and those who lived in less-developed regions were the main factors for the increase in poor health. Enlarged socioeconomic inequalities were the leading cause to the increase in physical and mental suffering. The effects of gender, education, and social disconnection on felt-suffering were persistently strong in both 2005 and 2010.

The authors are grateful to Ron Anderson and Susan McDaniel for their helpful comments on an earlier draft.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Retrieved on January 20, 2014: http://www.who.int/countries/chn/en/

  2. 2.

    Retrieved on January 20, 2014: http://search.worldbank.org/data?qterm=life+expectancy+in+China+2013&language=EN&op=

  3. 3.

    Computations were based on information from China Labor Statistical Yearbooks in 2003, 2005, and 2011.

  4. 4.

    Retrieved from the Financial Channel, CCTV, March 7, 2012: http://finance.jrj.com.cn/2012/03/07132012427439.shtml

  5. 5.

    Information was collected from Table 3–9 in China Statistical Yearbook 2003, complied by National Bureau of Statistics of China.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Faculty of Sociology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Yanjie Bian

  2. Faculty of Sociology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China

    Yanjie Bian

  3. The Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive West, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada

    Jing Shen

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  1. Yanjie Bian
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  2. Jing Shen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yanjie Bian .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Emeritus Faculty of Sociology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Ronald E. Anderson

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Bian, Y., Shen, J. (2015). Felt-Suffering and Its Social Variations in China. In: Anderson, R. (eds) World Suffering and Quality of Life. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 56. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9670-5_15

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