Health and Well-Being In East Asia: Reconsidering Care, Community, and Human Relationships through Post-Western Sociology

This session explores health and well-being in East Asia from the perspective of Post-Western Sociology. While dominant sociological theories of health have largely been shaped by Western experiences of modernity, individualism, professionalization, and liberal notions of autonomy, East Asian societies often demonstrate different configurations of selfhood, family relations, community responsibility, and moral understandings of care. This session aims to critically examine how sociological knowledge on health and well-being can be reconstructed through dialogue between Western and non-Western experiences.
Across East Asia, rapid aging, chronic illness, mental health challenges, social isolation, environmental crises, and widening inequalities have generated new questions concerning the meaning of health and well-being. At the same time, practices such as family-centered care, peer support, community-based mutual aid, intergenerational responsibility, and culturally embedded forms of resilience continue to shape everyday life. These experiences challenge universalistic assumptions embedded in conventional Western sociological frameworks.
The session welcomes theoretical and empirical contributions that reconsider health and well-being through concepts emerging from East Asian contexts, including relational autonomy, collectivism and individualism, social capital, community engagement, spirituality, ethical care, disaster resilience, patient and public involvement (PPI), and post-professional forms of support. Comparative studies and interdisciplinary approaches are especially encouraged.