Pub Date : 2023-11-06DOI: 10.1177/2057150x231209063
Wei Chen
China's recent fertility data collected from the 2020 population census and 2017 fertility survey have considerably improved in quality. Based on these, we can assess the levels and patterns of fertility with high confidence. We reconstruct China's fertility history from 1990 using these two types of data and review the trends and characteristics of fertility transitions and changing fertility patterns in China. Over the past half century, China has experienced an extraordinary fertility transition and decline, which can be described as three stepwise downward jumps in fertility that occurred in the 1970s, 1990s, and 2010s. While the tempo effect has always depressed fertility, the quantum effect became positive in the most recent fertility decline, when China made successive adjustments to its fertility policy. Age, parity, and interval patterns of fertility in China have also undergone fundamental changes influenced by changing fertility policies and rapidly expanding higher education. The recent rapid decline in fertility is driven by the increasing postponement of marriage, a large reduction in fertility for lower education groups, and a rising proportion of younger women accessing higher education.
{"title":"Changing fertility patterns in China","authors":"Wei Chen","doi":"10.1177/2057150x231209063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150x231209063","url":null,"abstract":"China's recent fertility data collected from the 2020 population census and 2017 fertility survey have considerably improved in quality. Based on these, we can assess the levels and patterns of fertility with high confidence. We reconstruct China's fertility history from 1990 using these two types of data and review the trends and characteristics of fertility transitions and changing fertility patterns in China. Over the past half century, China has experienced an extraordinary fertility transition and decline, which can be described as three stepwise downward jumps in fertility that occurred in the 1970s, 1990s, and 2010s. While the tempo effect has always depressed fertility, the quantum effect became positive in the most recent fertility decline, when China made successive adjustments to its fertility policy. Age, parity, and interval patterns of fertility in China have also undergone fundamental changes influenced by changing fertility policies and rapidly expanding higher education. The recent rapid decline in fertility is driven by the increasing postponement of marriage, a large reduction in fertility for lower education groups, and a rising proportion of younger women accessing higher education.","PeriodicalId":37302,"journal":{"name":"社会","volume":"62 6","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135684531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-03DOI: 10.1177/2057150x231205372
Yang Zhou, Jia Yu
Existing research has extensively examined the determinants of fertility attitudes and behaviors. However, with the primary focus on whether and when to have children, previous studies have overlooked a crucial dimension—who to have children with. This study innovatively employs the choice experiment method to examine the preferred characteristics of childbearing partners among the Chinese. We also estimate the partial utility and willingness to pay of different attributes of partners in people's fertility decision-making. We further explore the heterogeneities by gender, hukou (household registration) status, education, and birth cohort. Our results indicate that the following characteristics are preferred in ideal childbearing partners: youth, higher socioeconomic status, homeownership, better family background, and more attractive appearance. Compared to men, women place higher importance on income, family background, education, and homeownership. In contrast, men value physical appearance more than women. Heterogeneity analysis further reveals that men's preferred characteristics in an ideal childbearing partner do not vary by hukou status, yet urban women have a stronger preference for partners with a better family background compared to rural women. The preference for highly educated partners increases with one's own years of schooling for both men and women, implying a strong tendency for educational homogamy in China. We did not observe substantial cohort changes, except that men born after 1990 place a slightly higher importance on physical appearance compared to other cohorts. Our results suggest that the choice of childbearing partners corresponds to the wider patterns of social stratification in China.
{"title":"Who is the ideal parent of my children? A choice experiment study in China","authors":"Yang Zhou, Jia Yu","doi":"10.1177/2057150x231205372","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150x231205372","url":null,"abstract":"Existing research has extensively examined the determinants of fertility attitudes and behaviors. However, with the primary focus on whether and when to have children, previous studies have overlooked a crucial dimension—who to have children with. This study innovatively employs the choice experiment method to examine the preferred characteristics of childbearing partners among the Chinese. We also estimate the partial utility and willingness to pay of different attributes of partners in people's fertility decision-making. We further explore the heterogeneities by gender, hukou (household registration) status, education, and birth cohort. Our results indicate that the following characteristics are preferred in ideal childbearing partners: youth, higher socioeconomic status, homeownership, better family background, and more attractive appearance. Compared to men, women place higher importance on income, family background, education, and homeownership. In contrast, men value physical appearance more than women. Heterogeneity analysis further reveals that men's preferred characteristics in an ideal childbearing partner do not vary by hukou status, yet urban women have a stronger preference for partners with a better family background compared to rural women. The preference for highly educated partners increases with one's own years of schooling for both men and women, implying a strong tendency for educational homogamy in China. We did not observe substantial cohort changes, except that men born after 1990 place a slightly higher importance on physical appearance compared to other cohorts. Our results suggest that the choice of childbearing partners corresponds to the wider patterns of social stratification in China.","PeriodicalId":37302,"journal":{"name":"社会","volume":"5 6","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135821666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-26DOI: 10.1177/2057150x231207916
Yongai Jin, Wenbo Hu, Donghui Wang
China's large and diverse population exhibits interethnic variations in fertility, socioeconomic status, and culture. This study comprehensively analyzes data from multiple population censuses and qualitative interviews to identify fertility transition dynamics among ethnic groups in China. Taken together, the quantitative and qualitative results reveal a rapid decline in total fertility rates among both Han and ethnic minorities and a trend of convergence across different ethnic groups over the past few decades; in addition, the findings also show significant heterogeneity within ethnic minority populations. Our analysis sheds further light on the crucial role of social context and macro-level factors in shaping individuals’ reproductive behaviors. The results offer insights into how policies may address low fertility rates in China.
{"title":"Fertility transition of Han and ethnic minorities in China: A tale of convergence and variation","authors":"Yongai Jin, Wenbo Hu, Donghui Wang","doi":"10.1177/2057150x231207916","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150x231207916","url":null,"abstract":"China's large and diverse population exhibits interethnic variations in fertility, socioeconomic status, and culture. This study comprehensively analyzes data from multiple population censuses and qualitative interviews to identify fertility transition dynamics among ethnic groups in China. Taken together, the quantitative and qualitative results reveal a rapid decline in total fertility rates among both Han and ethnic minorities and a trend of convergence across different ethnic groups over the past few decades; in addition, the findings also show significant heterogeneity within ethnic minority populations. Our analysis sheds further light on the crucial role of social context and macro-level factors in shaping individuals’ reproductive behaviors. The results offer insights into how policies may address low fertility rates in China.","PeriodicalId":37302,"journal":{"name":"社会","volume":"59 5","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135018089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-23DOI: 10.1177/2057150x231207121
Yichun Yang
Gender inequality in the division of childcare between parents has long been a focal topic in the field of family and marriage research. Drawing on Chinese Childbearing and Parenting Intentions and Behaviors Survey (CCPIBS) and employing latent class analysis modeling strategies, this article examines attitudes toward gender roles in child-rearing among Chinese people and how they are shaped by socioeconomic determinants. The empirical findings show that the distribution of attitudes toward the gender division in childcare conforms to three ideal types: the traditional “mother-oriented” parenting style, the “father-oriented” parenting style, and the “parental collaboration” parenting style. Among these, the “mother-oriented” type continues to be predominant, but the “father-oriented” and “parental collaboration” types are gaining acceptance. The results also show that attitudes toward gender division in child-rearing are influenced by multiple socioeconomic determinants in contemporary China: educationally and occupationally advantaged groups, urban hukou holders, and younger cohorts are more likely to hold more egalitarian and liberal views regarding child-rearing, suggesting that trends in gender ideology in child-rearing could be explained using structural theories of attitudinal change.
{"title":"Attitudes toward gender roles in child-rearing and their socioeconomic differentials in contemporary China","authors":"Yichun Yang","doi":"10.1177/2057150x231207121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150x231207121","url":null,"abstract":"Gender inequality in the division of childcare between parents has long been a focal topic in the field of family and marriage research. Drawing on Chinese Childbearing and Parenting Intentions and Behaviors Survey (CCPIBS) and employing latent class analysis modeling strategies, this article examines attitudes toward gender roles in child-rearing among Chinese people and how they are shaped by socioeconomic determinants. The empirical findings show that the distribution of attitudes toward the gender division in childcare conforms to three ideal types: the traditional “mother-oriented” parenting style, the “father-oriented” parenting style, and the “parental collaboration” parenting style. Among these, the “mother-oriented” type continues to be predominant, but the “father-oriented” and “parental collaboration” types are gaining acceptance. The results also show that attitudes toward gender division in child-rearing are influenced by multiple socioeconomic determinants in contemporary China: educationally and occupationally advantaged groups, urban hukou holders, and younger cohorts are more likely to hold more egalitarian and liberal views regarding child-rearing, suggesting that trends in gender ideology in child-rearing could be explained using structural theories of attitudinal change.","PeriodicalId":37302,"journal":{"name":"社会","volume":"4 ","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135413629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-11DOI: 10.1177/2057150x231205773
Zhenwu Zhai, Guangzhao Jin
Due to the immense population pressure and rapid population growth, the government of the People's Republic of China introduced the family planning policy in the 1950s and 1960s. It was fully implemented in the 1970s and tightened further into the one-child policy in the early 1980s. The implementation of the family planning policy played a significant role in China's fertility transition, with the total fertility rate shifting from approximately six to below the replacement level in around two decades. Facing the long-term low fertility rate and changes in the socioeconomic environment, the government implemented a selective two-child policy and a universal two-child policy in 2013 and 2015, respectively; consequently, the fertility rate rebounded temporarily. However, the two-child policy's effects have gradually diminished, and the fertility rate has declined dramatically since 2017. In 2021, China announced a three-child policy and supporting measures, followed by steps to improve the country's fertility support system, signifying a shift in China's family planning policy from a restrictive to an inclusive approach. Currently, there still exists potential for improvements in China's fertility level, and the key to tapping this potential lies in establishing a comprehensive, systematic, and sustainable fertility support policy system as soon as possible.
{"title":"China's family planning policy and fertility transition","authors":"Zhenwu Zhai, Guangzhao Jin","doi":"10.1177/2057150x231205773","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150x231205773","url":null,"abstract":"Due to the immense population pressure and rapid population growth, the government of the People's Republic of China introduced the family planning policy in the 1950s and 1960s. It was fully implemented in the 1970s and tightened further into the one-child policy in the early 1980s. The implementation of the family planning policy played a significant role in China's fertility transition, with the total fertility rate shifting from approximately six to below the replacement level in around two decades. Facing the long-term low fertility rate and changes in the socioeconomic environment, the government implemented a selective two-child policy and a universal two-child policy in 2013 and 2015, respectively; consequently, the fertility rate rebounded temporarily. However, the two-child policy's effects have gradually diminished, and the fertility rate has declined dramatically since 2017. In 2021, China announced a three-child policy and supporting measures, followed by steps to improve the country's fertility support system, signifying a shift in China's family planning policy from a restrictive to an inclusive approach. Currently, there still exists potential for improvements in China's fertility level, and the key to tapping this potential lies in establishing a comprehensive, systematic, and sustainable fertility support policy system as soon as possible.","PeriodicalId":37302,"journal":{"name":"社会","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136213895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-10DOI: 10.1177/2057150x231203836
Yuchen He, Yu Xie
Motivated by role theory and the concept of the “self-fulfilling prophecy”, this study examines how entries into marriage and parenthood affect the fertility ideals of men and women in China. To address this question, we apply propensity score matching estimators to data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) within a counterfactual framework. We find that marriage and parenthood have a positive effect on fertility ideals, and this result remains robust when we apply difference-in-differences matching estimates. In terms of gender asymmetry in marriage, men and women respond differently to marriage and parenthood. Entry into marriage has a positive effect on men's fertility ideals, while parenthood influences women's ideals. Beyond the average treatment effect, we further examine heterogeneous treatment effects as a function of estimated propensity scores. The study reveals that the life transition treatment effect is the highest among those with a moderate propensity for entering into marriage and parenthood.
{"title":"The shift in ideal family size: Examining the impact of marriage and parenthood","authors":"Yuchen He, Yu Xie","doi":"10.1177/2057150x231203836","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150x231203836","url":null,"abstract":"Motivated by role theory and the concept of the “self-fulfilling prophecy”, this study examines how entries into marriage and parenthood affect the fertility ideals of men and women in China. To address this question, we apply propensity score matching estimators to data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) within a counterfactual framework. We find that marriage and parenthood have a positive effect on fertility ideals, and this result remains robust when we apply difference-in-differences matching estimates. In terms of gender asymmetry in marriage, men and women respond differently to marriage and parenthood. Entry into marriage has a positive effect on men's fertility ideals, while parenthood influences women's ideals. Beyond the average treatment effect, we further examine heterogeneous treatment effects as a function of estimated propensity scores. The study reveals that the life transition treatment effect is the highest among those with a moderate propensity for entering into marriage and parenthood.","PeriodicalId":37302,"journal":{"name":"社会","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136357947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/2057150X231185926
Xiaoyang Mei
One important approach to studying emotional labor is to focus on its negative impact from the perspective of organizational psychology. Less attention is paid to the positive effect. This paper adopts a cultural sociology approach to study how “maternity helpers” use boundary work, such as “deep acting” and constructing symbolic boundaries, to produce positive experiences in the process of emotional labor. In deep acting, they actively distort the boundaries of the private space, introduce a family-oriented narrative, and participate in a certain amount of “philanthropic labor”. They are also engaged in constructing symbolic boundaries by promoting themselves as “childcare experts”, in order to get the upper hand when interacting and negotiating with clients. Both boundary work strategies constitute an attempt to challenge social boundaries by constructing symbolic boundaries. This paper argues that the concept of autonomy in emotional labor should adopt a relational approach, thus accounting for the ability for the laborers to autonomously choose strategies that can produce equal and meaningful social relations, rather than merely focusing on the independent self with clear boundaries or the ability to control the labor process. Nevertheless, autonomy in emotional labor is constrained by both institutional and cultural conditions.
{"title":"Positive experiences in emotional labor: Deep acting, symbolic boundaries, and labor autonomy","authors":"Xiaoyang Mei","doi":"10.1177/2057150X231185926","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150X231185926","url":null,"abstract":"One important approach to studying emotional labor is to focus on its negative impact from the perspective of organizational psychology. Less attention is paid to the positive effect. This paper adopts a cultural sociology approach to study how “maternity helpers” use boundary work, such as “deep acting” and constructing symbolic boundaries, to produce positive experiences in the process of emotional labor. In deep acting, they actively distort the boundaries of the private space, introduce a family-oriented narrative, and participate in a certain amount of “philanthropic labor”. They are also engaged in constructing symbolic boundaries by promoting themselves as “childcare experts”, in order to get the upper hand when interacting and negotiating with clients. Both boundary work strategies constitute an attempt to challenge social boundaries by constructing symbolic boundaries. This paper argues that the concept of autonomy in emotional labor should adopt a relational approach, thus accounting for the ability for the laborers to autonomously choose strategies that can produce equal and meaningful social relations, rather than merely focusing on the independent self with clear boundaries or the ability to control the labor process. Nevertheless, autonomy in emotional labor is constrained by both institutional and cultural conditions.","PeriodicalId":37302,"journal":{"name":"社会","volume":"9 1","pages":"453 - 476"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45438922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/2057150X231191397
Mengyao Zhao
In previous studies of migration, return migration is usually considered a behavior determined by negative self-selection. This study pools data from three waves of the China College Student Survey (2010, 2013, and 2015) to explore the return migration behavior of Chinese college graduates and its impact on their labor market performance. The results show that graduate return migrants have advantages in terms of family background, although they do not perform as well in terms of human capital. Relative to graduate nonreturn migrants, return migrants have a greater chance of securing positions in governmental organizations, and this advantage is reinforced by family political capital. In addition, income analysis shows that return migrants seem to have an advantage over nonreturn migrants when the effects of migrant selectivity are considered. This study systematically discusses the monetary and occupational returns to return migration of highly educated individuals in a non-Western context, and has important implications for our understanding of the relationship between migration and social inequality.
{"title":"Returning home for a better job? Return migration, family background, and labor market outcomes among recent college graduates in China","authors":"Mengyao Zhao","doi":"10.1177/2057150X231191397","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150X231191397","url":null,"abstract":"In previous studies of migration, return migration is usually considered a behavior determined by negative self-selection. This study pools data from three waves of the China College Student Survey (2010, 2013, and 2015) to explore the return migration behavior of Chinese college graduates and its impact on their labor market performance. The results show that graduate return migrants have advantages in terms of family background, although they do not perform as well in terms of human capital. Relative to graduate nonreturn migrants, return migrants have a greater chance of securing positions in governmental organizations, and this advantage is reinforced by family political capital. In addition, income analysis shows that return migrants seem to have an advantage over nonreturn migrants when the effects of migrant selectivity are considered. This study systematically discusses the monetary and occupational returns to return migration of highly educated individuals in a non-Western context, and has important implications for our understanding of the relationship between migration and social inequality.","PeriodicalId":37302,"journal":{"name":"社会","volume":"9 1","pages":"408 - 428"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46742238","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/2057150X231189027
Qi Xu, Xiuming Pan
Status exchange in marriage refers to a marriage pattern in which one spouse compensates for his or her disadvantage in one status area relative to the other spouse with an advantage in another. Two prominent examples of marriage exchange discussed in the existing literature are race–status exchange and beauty–status exchange. Although the marriage exchange theory is well supported by early studies, in recent years, its applicability has been questioned by some scholars. Protracted debates on the topic in question were launched in two top sociological journals, the American Sociological Review and the American Journal of Sociology. This study reviews these debates and offers an in-depth theoretical investigation into the relationship between matching and exchange, and the premise of marriage exchange theory. In addition, we collect and analyze the data from the five waves of the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2018) on beauty–status exchanges and other forms of marriage exchanges in China. We found little evidence of beauty–status exchanges in Chinese marriages and even the well-assumed exchange of “woman's beauty for man's talent” lacks sound empirical support. However, there are ample evidences of exchanges among the four status factors of education, occupation, income, and family background. As indicators of socioeconomic status, these four variables are homogeneous in nature, and therefore can more easily substitute for one another. We argue that the validity of marriage exchange theory depends on the similarity or substitutability between the elements in exchange. Thus, we can neither completely accept nor reject the marriage exchange theory.
{"title":"Beauty and status: Matching and exchange within Chinese marriages","authors":"Qi Xu, Xiuming Pan","doi":"10.1177/2057150X231189027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150X231189027","url":null,"abstract":"Status exchange in marriage refers to a marriage pattern in which one spouse compensates for his or her disadvantage in one status area relative to the other spouse with an advantage in another. Two prominent examples of marriage exchange discussed in the existing literature are race–status exchange and beauty–status exchange. Although the marriage exchange theory is well supported by early studies, in recent years, its applicability has been questioned by some scholars. Protracted debates on the topic in question were launched in two top sociological journals, the American Sociological Review and the American Journal of Sociology. This study reviews these debates and offers an in-depth theoretical investigation into the relationship between matching and exchange, and the premise of marriage exchange theory. In addition, we collect and analyze the data from the five waves of the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2018) on beauty–status exchanges and other forms of marriage exchanges in China. We found little evidence of beauty–status exchanges in Chinese marriages and even the well-assumed exchange of “woman's beauty for man's talent” lacks sound empirical support. However, there are ample evidences of exchanges among the four status factors of education, occupation, income, and family background. As indicators of socioeconomic status, these four variables are homogeneous in nature, and therefore can more easily substitute for one another. We argue that the validity of marriage exchange theory depends on the similarity or substitutability between the elements in exchange. Thus, we can neither completely accept nor reject the marriage exchange theory.","PeriodicalId":37302,"journal":{"name":"社会","volume":"9 1","pages":"375 - 407"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44267612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/2057150X231186248
Zepeng Zhou, Suowei Xiao
Youth spaces, public spaces established by urban youth to facilitate conversations and spiritual exchanges, have proliferated in China since 2012. Through participatory observation in one such youth space, Youth Space A, and in-depth interviews with 20 participants, this article examines the double lives experienced by middle-class migrant youths in Beijing under the conditions of institutionalized individualization. It argues that the highly competitive institutional environment of contemporary China, with the labor market as its core, has systematically pressured migrant youths into a utilitarian institutionalized life model. Under these circumstances, young migrants, on the one hand, are acting as “striving individuals” in order to adapt to these conditions; on the other hand, they are deeply suspicious and despondent, struggling with the paradox of institutional dependency and the need for autonomy. Constructing social interactions in youth spaces has become their way of exploring their “authentic selves”. In Youth Space A, migrant youths build transient “pure relationships” between strangers and participate in public life through noncompetitive relations and highly spiritual conversations. In so doing, they constitute an “authentic self” that enables them to reveal their true inner selves and resist social constraints. However, sociability in the youth space is built upon the premise of “anti-daily life” that precludes its integration into everyday action, and thus is incapable of changing the established structure of daily life. In fact, to a certain degree, it is confined by the logic of institutionalized life, such as utility and instrumentality, thus reducing migrant youths’ authenticity to a tangled, fragile, and place-specific experience. This study reflects on the utilitarian paradigm of the “striving individual” in the discussion of the individualization process in Chinese society, and among Chinese youths in particular. It furthers understanding of the dual connotations of institutionalized individualization. In addition, by analyzing the relationship between public life and the authentic self, it sheds light on the issue of the dilemma of publicness in the process of individualization, and its specifically Chinese manifestations.
{"title":"Experiencing authenticity: Sociability and the double lives of middle-class migrant youth in Beijing","authors":"Zepeng Zhou, Suowei Xiao","doi":"10.1177/2057150X231186248","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150X231186248","url":null,"abstract":"Youth spaces, public spaces established by urban youth to facilitate conversations and spiritual exchanges, have proliferated in China since 2012. Through participatory observation in one such youth space, Youth Space A, and in-depth interviews with 20 participants, this article examines the double lives experienced by middle-class migrant youths in Beijing under the conditions of institutionalized individualization. It argues that the highly competitive institutional environment of contemporary China, with the labor market as its core, has systematically pressured migrant youths into a utilitarian institutionalized life model. Under these circumstances, young migrants, on the one hand, are acting as “striving individuals” in order to adapt to these conditions; on the other hand, they are deeply suspicious and despondent, struggling with the paradox of institutional dependency and the need for autonomy. Constructing social interactions in youth spaces has become their way of exploring their “authentic selves”. In Youth Space A, migrant youths build transient “pure relationships” between strangers and participate in public life through noncompetitive relations and highly spiritual conversations. In so doing, they constitute an “authentic self” that enables them to reveal their true inner selves and resist social constraints. However, sociability in the youth space is built upon the premise of “anti-daily life” that precludes its integration into everyday action, and thus is incapable of changing the established structure of daily life. In fact, to a certain degree, it is confined by the logic of institutionalized life, such as utility and instrumentality, thus reducing migrant youths’ authenticity to a tangled, fragile, and place-specific experience. This study reflects on the utilitarian paradigm of the “striving individual” in the discussion of the individualization process in Chinese society, and among Chinese youths in particular. It furthers understanding of the dual connotations of institutionalized individualization. In addition, by analyzing the relationship between public life and the authentic self, it sheds light on the issue of the dilemma of publicness in the process of individualization, and its specifically Chinese manifestations.","PeriodicalId":37302,"journal":{"name":"社会","volume":"9 1","pages":"429 - 452"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41599947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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