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Understanding Health Fraud Offenders in China: An Emotional Labour Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2023

Jianhua Xu ,
Guyu Sun ,
Sinan Wu ,
Shangyi Zhu  and
You Zhou
Jianhua Xu*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau SAR, China
Guyu Sun
Affiliation:
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, US
Sinan Wu
Affiliation:
Sinan Wu, Law School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
Shangyi Zhu
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau SAR, China
You Zhou
Affiliation:
You Zhou, School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
*
Corresponding author: Jianhua Xu; Email: jianhuaxu@um.edu.mo
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Abstract

Existing literature has highlighted the importance of recognizing health fraud offenders’ intentional manipulations of victims’ vulnerabilities. However, the manipulation tactics of health fraud have received little attention. This study aims to extend the current understanding of health fraud by incorporating the concept of emotional labour. Nested in the Chinese context, which owns the most populous ageing population, three sets of qualitative data were collected, including 13 semi-structured interviews, 233 judicial documents, and 197 media reports. The findings suggest that health fraud offenders utilized three types of emotional labour as means of committing crime: including the labour of anxiety relief, the labour of filial piety, and the labour of social networking. This article not only provides novel insights into understanding health fraud, but also contributes to introducing the concept of emotional labour in criminological and socio-legal studies.

Keywords

health fraudemotional labourvulnerability manipulationolder adultsChina
Type
Research Article
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , First View , pp. 1 - 16
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Asian Journal of Law and Society

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