Gender roles,marriage, and residential independence

This article examines the effects of gender role attitudes on leaving home for marriage and for unmarried independence among young men and women in the United States in the 1980s. The choice to leave home for unmarried independence is associated with two major changes in family relationships: the shift in parent-child interaction from a traditional emphasis on children's obedience toward a greater stress on independence, and the shift toward more egalitarian definitions of gender roles in both work and family spheres. We ask the following: What is the effect of holding more modern gender role attitudes on gender differences in leaving home for marriage? Does holding more modern gender role attitudes influence patterns of leaving home for marriage and for unmarried independence differently for men and women? We examine these questions with data from sophomores in the High School and Beyond Survey.     

Thinking intergenerationally: intergenerational solidarity,health and active aging in Hong Kong

This paper intends to provoke thoughts into intergenerational relations and future policies that can strengthen solidarity within families and community in order to face the challenges of aging population. It first provides an overview of intergenerational relations and the efforts to promote intergenerational programs in the specific context of contemporary Hong Kong. Through a sociological lens, it draws on a theoretical framework that explains how intergenerational relations are constructed. It also sets out the factors leading to cohesive or conflicting relations at the individual, family and community levels. The paper concludes by applying this framework to inform intergenerational programming, and to suggest ways to promote IP and to take intergenerational perspective into policy design towards a healthy and intergenerational cohesive community.     

Women from the Middle East and North Africa in Europe: understanding their marriage and family dynamics

The aim of this article is to assist the understanding of social workers in Europe of marriage and family dynamics among women from Middle East and North African countries who have moved to Europe. The focus of this article is on husband selection processes and family dynamics after marriage in Egypt, which is used as a case study reflecting culture and norms surrounding marriage in this region. This article reports on the findings of doctoral studies which examined marriage patterns and family dynamics in North Africa and in particular in Egypt where more in-depth data were available. The authors reflect issues surrounding values and process of marriage not only in terms of the implications for practice with social work clients or service users, but also in relation to the potential of women from this region who may join the social care workforce.     

The sexual in Chinese sociology: homosexuality studies in contemporary China

Through a meta‐literature review, this paper examines the changing contours of Chinese sociology of homosexuality in contemporary China. It unfolds the different theoretical orientations and methodologies that construct the modern male homosexual subject under major socio‐economic and political changes. Chinese sociology of homosexuality started in the reform era and has been dominated by Western knowledge production and the political ideology of the communist party‐state. Fused with the bio‐medical model and the state's modernization project in the 1980s–1990s, the sociological study adopted a functionalist and positivistic approach with survey‐based methodology in the main which focused on the etiology of homosexuality. A new transnational knowledge production of sociology of homosexuality has formed since the 2000s which has shifted towards a constructivist/ post‐structuralist approach and reflexive qualitative methodology. The new sociological study examines the rise of male (as well as female) homosexual identity in China, questions the hetero/homosexual binary and discusses how an individual makes sense of homosexual identity to form same‐sex intimate relationships. By tracing the epistemology of homosexuality in contemporary China, this paper rethinks the dominance of the Western construction and the role of the state in shaping the knowledge of homosexuality and proposes alternative spaces for theorizing Chinese sexual identities, desires and practices.     

Geographic distance and intergenerational relationships in Chinese migrant families

ABSTRACT

This study examines the effect of adult Chinese migrants’ geographic distance from home on their intergenerational relationships with parents who remain behind. We compared monetary and family care support as well as emotional relationships among four parent-child groups: older adults and international migrant children, older adults and internal migrant children (who migrated to other cities in China), older adults and coresiding children, and older adults and local children (living in the same city as their parents). Data were derived from 332 older adults in Beijing, China, with at least one child who migrated to another country or city. Results from chi-square tests, anaylsis of variance (ANOVA) tests, and regression analyses indicate that international and internal migrant children maintain similar intergenerational relationships with their parents, and that both of those groups are less likely than coresiding and local children to have family care exchanges and emotionally close relationships with their parents. The results may help professionals develop supportive services and policies for older adults in migrant families.     

Family Studies and Intergenerational Studies

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews key sources in the field of family studies in order to identify, in research and program development, intersections of theoretical, methodological, or programmatic interests. The purpose of the paper is to begin a dialogue between researchers and practitioners in the fields of family studies and intergenerational studies to foster collaborative projects in research and programming. The authors have chosen to limit the literature reviewed to sources that contain landmark reviews of research on intergenerational relationships from the perspective of the family studies field: Decade reviews that appeared in the primary journal of the National Council on Family Relations, the Journal of Marriage and the Family(Broderick, 1971a; Berardo, 1980; Booth, 1990; Milardo, 2000); the Handbook of Marriage and the Family(Sussman & Steinmetz, 1987; Sussman, Steinmetz, & Peterson, 1999); Families: Intergenerational and Generational Connections(Pfeifer & Sussman, 1991).     

Hamjensgara belongs to family; exclusion and inclusion of male homosexuality in relation to family structure in Iran

This paper looks at current struggles of Iranian gay men to form new sexual identities that are directly tied to family structure and based on values of emotional bond and commitment to a same-sex partner. Based on fieldwork conducted among Iranian gay men in 2012–2014 and through looking at Iranian gay men’s terminologies, Hamjensgara and Gay in particular, I will clarify how Iranian gays, in a way different from that of Western LGBT activists, are trying to portray a positive image of their sexuality in relation to local family standards so they can be integrated into the Iranian family structure, which is the central space of regulating identities in Iran.     

Work,family and public policy dynamics in France

To understand the relationships between changes to the family and changes to the sphere of work and employment, and how they have developed over time, requires considering a third factor, i.e. public policies, and in particular family policies. In this article, we attempt to clarify theoretically these interactions by taking into account the changes that have taken place in France since World War II. To appraise the French configuration in a special issue on Southern Europe, we begin by explaining why we consider France is following a ‘Southern path’. In a second section, we argue that family transformations are mainly the result of changes that affect work and employment. A similar process combining individualisation, flexibility and precariousness is affecting both spheres of existence. In a last section, we prose a matrix of ideas, ideologies and outcomes to understand the main family policy reforms since World War II.     

Moral boundaries and national borders: Cuban marriage migration to Denmark

The discussion of marriage migration in Denmark primarily has focused on citizens of immigrant descent (‘New Danes’) who marry partners from their ancestral homeland (often Turkey or Pakistan). This type of marriage migration was the target of the strict Danish family reunification policy instituted in 2002. This article examines the genealogy of the morality underpinning the family reunification policies and asks whether the rules actually promote this moral agenda or have unintended consequences. Empirically, I shift the focus from immigrant Danes to native Danes who marry Cubans. Finally, while little attention is paid to the non-western country involved, transnational marriages always involve two nations. This article investigates how state policies on both ends of this migration trajectory shape moral-territorial borders that transnational couples navigate.     

Intergenerational Programs and Practices in China: Results Based on a Web Search Method

ABSTRACT

In the midst of an aging population trend and increased concerns about elder care, the Chinese government has developed policies that aim to strengthen family support systems and ensure older adult engagement in community life. One domain of related intervention that has received relatively little attention and systematic study in China is in the area of intergenerational programming. To gain a sense of the breadth and types of intergenerational programs emerging in China, the authors employed a web search method utilizing Google and Baidu search engines. Findings indicate a fair amount of program innovation and diversity as well as a need for additional programmatic and policy measures to strengthen and support intergenerational relationships in family and community contexts.     

The changing Xiangxi Miao marriage practices in contemporary China

This essay describes elements of Xiangxi Miao marriage practices such as courtship, wedding ceremonies, and marriages between the Miao and Han, exploring how Xiangxi Miao marriage practices changed at the turn of this century, and disclosing social influences on the changes in marriage practices. The author uses a Miao village of Zalun as a case study. Through participant observation and intensive interviews, it was found that, before 2000, Xiangxi Miaos’ courtship practices and wedding ceremonies had strict processes and reflected agricultural rhythm. In addition, there were few marriages between the Miao and Han. Since the beginning of this century, Xiangxi Miao marriage practices have changed due to socioeconomic development, population mobility, and diverse communication between Miao young women and men. Dramatic shifts in marriage practices have produced social influences among Xiangxi Miao communities. The changes in marriage practices have promoted Xiangxi Miao free marriages, advancing social cohesion and acculturation. However, these changes have also increased numbers of criminals and problems of healthy growth and education of the stay-at-home children.     

Education,wage work,and marriage: Perspectives of Egyptian working women

We explore young working women's perceptions of marriage and work in contemporary Egypt, when an increase in age at marriage was evident from national survey data. Both working conditions and employment opportunities declined significantly for young women even as their educational attainment increased and marriage was delayed. In‐depth interviews were conducted over a 2‐year period between 1998 and 2000 with 27 young women between the ages of 15 and 29 who were from relatively poor families and working in a range of salaried jobs in three locations. The qualitative data indicate that young women have high expectations in terms of marital living standards. They seek to achieve this in part by saving intensively before marriage when they work, and otherwise by ensuring substantial monetary support from their families. We conclude that rising material aspirations and family nucleation rather than change in female labor force participation drive marriage change in contemporary Egypt. The driving force behind this conclusion is that there is a reinforcement of the traditional values associated with the institution of marriage rather than its erosion.     

The cut sleeve 1 revisited: A brief ethnographic interview with a male homosexual in mainland China

This paper focuses on a brief interview with a self‐disclosed male homosexual from a Western province in mainland China. While others have reported on homosexuality in China, the sources of information have generally been nonreactive (letters and clinical case notes). To the author's knowledge, this is the first documented face‐to‐face interview with a Chinese male homosexual to reach the Western professional press. Segments chosen for focus include the self‐perceptions of the individual, his sexual orientation and liaisons, and the manner in which he negotiates his alternate lifestyle in a cultural system largely negative to homosexuality in any form. While this example is obviously not representative of homosexuals in China, it does briefly illustrate the kinds of experiences that confront a male homosexual in the post‐Mao Zedong era. Adaptive strategies by this individual also indicate how the expression of a sexual orientation at variance from the norm can be sustained, even in a seemingly closed system.     

Social network and family business: Uncovering hybrid family firms

What does it mean for a private enterprise in China to be embedded in a family? Our purpose here is twofold: (1) use social network analysis to describe what it means for a firm to be embedded in a family, (2) reveal from the application a new kind of firm, not family, yet akin to family. Armed with data on a large probability sample of private enterprises — a third of which meet ownership and employment criteria of being family businesses — we uncover a category of “hybrid family firms” that look modern in the style of firms that exclude family, but operate socially in ways similar to family firms. Our conclusion from summary statistics on the sample is that there are no differences in average performance level or network advantage for the three categories of businesses: family firms, hybrid family firms, and family-excluded firms. The fact that CEOs of family firms and hybrid family firms more often turn to family as key business contacts is a fact about network composition that raises no question about network mechanisms. Whether the CEO turns to more or fewer family contacts, government help is more likely with stronger political connections, and business success and survival are more likely with a large, open network. That said, the look-modern, act-traditional hybrid family firms stand alone in prospering with a CEO embedded in a closed business network. Recognition of hybrid family firms adds to the literature’s illustrations of social network analysis used to distinguish types of businesses and business people, and extends the population of organizations within which governance and strategy are likely to be better understood when viewed through a family logic.     

White Mothers,Brown Children: Ethnic Identification of Maori‐European Children in New Zealand

Studies of multiethnic families often assume the ethnic identification of children with the minority group results from the minority parent. This study examines an alternate view that mainstream parents also play an important role in transmitting minority ethnicity. It explores this argument using data from New Zealand on the ethnic labels mothers assign to their Maori‐European children. It finds that European mothers are just as disposed as Maori mothers to designate their child as Maori, either exclusively or in combination. Two explanations, grounded in ethnic awareness and gendered inheritance, are proposed. Although neither satisfactorily predicts maternal designation decisions, the readiness of European mothers to identify their child as Maori underscores their role in diffusing Maori ethnicity.     

Alternatives in intimacy,marriage, and family lifestyles

This study investigated a sample of southern Black students' willingness to engage in 16 alternative intimacy, marriage, and family forms and examined the relation between demographic, familial, and social psychological variables and alternative lifestyles chosen. Data were obtained from a random sample of 230 Black students of marriageable age. In general, the subjects expressed relatively less willingness to experiment with the nontraditional lifestyles compared to conventional family forms; but theoretically relevant correlates of their predisposition were different for each sex. Year in college, major areas, parental love, family income, parental authority, and parental permissiveness with regard to dating relationships were significantly related to females' willingness, while residence and father's education were related to males' willingness to engage in alternative lifestyles. Authors' Note: This is a revised article originally presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society, Knoxville, TE, March 1980. The authors wish to thank Noel A. Cazenave and Robert Whitehurst for constructive criticism. Analysis of the article was made possible, in part, by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.