One of the dominant discourses/frameworks in the field of study is the individualization of Chinese families, influenced by Beck and Beck-Gernsheim. Analysis of the data from this project reveals there is not a clear transition from familism to individualism, or vice versa, across generations and over time. Instead, the project reveals a paradoxical process of change and continuities in family practices from Mao to post-Mao eras, shaped by institutional configurations as well as intergenerational transmission. By examining the multiple processes (economics, demographics, values and welfare regime) at work and enabling an intersectional analysis (generation, urban-rural divide and gender) of the impact of modernity, this project opens up new pathways to broaden the subject away from Eurocentrism inherent in Western social theory and lead to new perspectives and stimulate new debate helping to construct a multi-centred global theory of family life and social change.
Empirically, the three-generational analysis and the multi-sited approach has produced a much more detailed and comprehensive picture of change, continuity and diversity in Chinese family life than previously existed. For example, in terms of childrearing practices, analysis revealed that the youngest generation of urban families (the only-child generation) experienced an increasing regimentalization of childhood, exercised by their parents and driven by both neoliberal market and post-socialist state forces, and this contrasted with the existing argument of an individualization of childhood in China. Conversely, in rural families, the childhood experiences of the youngest generation are shaped by distinctive parental migration trajectories whilst being subject to institutionalized urban-rural segregation and inequalities.
In terms of ageing and intergenerational relations, analysis revealed the intertwining of filial obligation, material interest and emotional intimacy in driving old-age support in family settings albeit with urban and rural families following divergent destinies. The commercialization of housing in urban China has resulted in a clear trajectory among urban families whereby parents’ property becomes an increasingly important bargaining chip in intergenerational negotiation over time. By contrast, many rural families have witnessed a reverse trend where the significance of parents’ property transmission is declining in intergenerational negotiations due to rural to urban migration and the low value of rural accommodation.
Comparative analysis in different regions revealed a diversity in family practices, for example, Hong Kong and Taiwan families reported subcontracting filial piety to foreign domestic workers while ageing in China still largely relies upon extended family members. Regardless of the form it takes, a theme of lifelong intergenerational reciprocity and interdependence ran through all three Chinese societies, reflecting Confucian tradition, a familialist state welfare framework, as well as everyday intergenerational transmissions of values.
As more output emerges from this research, we anticipate further broad (both academic and non-academic) interest in the findings.
