Community Governance of “Diverse Subjects” in the Context of Aging Population Based on Cultural Embeddedness Theory: Evidence from Beijing in China

Abstract

The global aging problem is increasing, which makes the issue of “multi-body governance” of aging communities increasingly important. Using cultural embeddedness theory as the theoretical basis, this paper examines the current situation of pluralistic governance in aging communities and its problems using fieldwork and case study methods, taking communities in Beijing, China, as a case study. This paper finds that for the new commercial housing communities, most of the elderly come from foreign countries, and there are difficulties in endogenous cultural embedding due to different cultural backgrounds and ideologies. In the old central enterprise family home-type community, most elderly people have lived here since childhood and formed a consistent ideology. Still, due to the path dependence in the era of the central enterprise management community, the elderly have difficulties in exogenous cultural embeddedness, such as promulgating new policies and collecting fees. Based on this, this paper draws the following three conclusions: firstly, the multi-body governance of aging communities in many countries is currently in its infancy and needs some time to be perfected. Second, the ideology of the elderly greatly influences the cultural embedding of community governance. Third, aging community governance requires a large amount of financial and personnel investment, which is a considerable burden for many developing countries.