Book•
Private Life under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949-1999
05 Mar 2003-
TL;DR: For seven years in the 1970s, the author lived in a village in northeast China as an ordinary farmer and returned to the village as an anthropologist to begin the unparalleled span of eleven years' fieldwork that has resulted in this book-a comprehensive, vivid, and nuanced account of family change and the transformation of private life in rural China from 1949 to 1999 as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: For seven years in the 1970s, the author lived in a village in northeast China as an ordinary farmer In 1989, he returned to the village as an anthropologist to begin the unparalleled span of eleven years' fieldwork that has resulted in this book-a comprehensive, vivid, and nuanced account of family change and the transformation of private life in rural China from 1949 to 1999 The author's focus on the personal and the emotional sets this book apart from most studies of the Chinese family Yan explores private lives to examine areas of family life that have been largely overlooked, such as emotion, desire, intimacy, privacy, conjugality, and individuality He concludes that the past five decades have witnessed a dual transformation of private life: the rise of the private family, within which the private lives of individual women and men are thriving
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TL;DR: Traditional family arrangements are beneficial in rural Chinese society as they represent the fulfillment of a cultural ideal and implications in the context of the corporate Chinese family are discussed.
Abstract: Objectives. The migration of working-age adults from rural to urban China has altered traditional patterns of living arrangements and intergenerational support among elderly persons who remain in rural regions. This investigation examined how household composition and support exchanges with adult children influenced the psychological well-being of older parents in rural China. Methods. Data derived from a 2001 survey of 1,561 parents aged 60 and older living in rural Anhui Province, China. We used multiple regression in order to estimate the effects of multigenerational living arrangements and intergenerational transfers of financial, instrumental, and emotional support on depression and life satisfaction in older parents. Results. Older parents living in three-generation households or with grandchildren in skipped-generation households had better psychological well-being than those living in single-generation households. Receiving greater remittances from adult children increased well-being and explained why living with grandchildren was beneficial. Stronger emotional cohesion with children also improved well-being. Discussion. These results suggest that traditional family arrangements are beneficial in rural Chinese society as they represent the fulfillment of a cultural ideal. We discuss implications in the context of the corporate Chinese family, characterized by mutual aid and interdependence across generations, and its adaption to social change.
536 citations
Cites background from "Private Life under Socialism: Love,..."
...Economic reforms put into place in 1978 entitled adult children to family property (Cohen, 1992, 1998), reducing their economic incentive to stay in the parental household, despite stronger cultural preferences to do so (Y. Yan, 2003; H. Zhang, 2004)....
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...In a society that emphasizes collective family goals over individual goals, the contributions of grandparents to the welfare of their children’s families fulfill a cultural mandate and are highly valued (Y. Yan, 2003)....
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TL;DR: Multivariate analysis suggests that grandparents’ childcare load is adaptive to familial needs, as reflected by the characteristics of the household, household members and work activities of the mothers.
Abstract: Guided by theories and empirical research on intergenerational relationships, we examine the phenomenon of grandparents caring for grandchildren in contemporary China. Using a longitudinal dataset (China Health and Nutrition Survey), we document a high level of structural and functional solidarity in grandparent-grandchildren relationships. Intergenerational solidarity is indicated by a high rate of coresidence between grandchildren and grandparents, a sizable number of skipped-generation households (no parent present), extensive childcare involvement by non-coresidential grandparents, and a large amount of care provided by coresidential grandparents. Multivariate analysis further suggests that grandparents' childcare load is adaptive to familial needs, as reflected by the characteristics of the household, household members, and work activities of the mothers.
403 citations
Book•
16 Dec 2013TL;DR: The anthropology of ethics has become an important and fast-growing field in recent years as mentioned in this paper and it represents not just a new subfield within anthropology but a conceptual renewal of the discipline as a whole, enabling it to take account of a major dimension of human conduct which social theory has so far failed adequately to address.
Abstract: The anthropology of ethics has become an important and fast-growing field in recent years. This book argues that it represents not just a new subfield within anthropology but a conceptual renewal of the discipline as a whole, enabling it to take account of a major dimension of human conduct which social theory has so far failed adequately to address. An ideal introduction for students and researchers in anthropology and related human sciences.Shows how ethical concepts such as virtue, character, freedom and responsibility may be incorporated into anthropological analysisSurveys the history of anthropology's engagement with morality Examines the relevance for anthropology of two major philosophical approaches to moral life.
294 citations
TL;DR: An analysis of how 'face' is embodied in China deepens an articulation of how the social aspects of stigma might incorporate the moral standing of both individual and collective actors defined within a local context.
294 citations
Cites background from "Private Life under Socialism: Love,..."
...…understanding reciprocity but also embodies the following overlapping concepts: 1) understanding basic emotional responses in everyday social situations; 2) moral duties associated with gift-exchange; 3) a type of exchangeable social resource (i.e., favor) and; 4) one’s guanxi networks (Yan 2003)....
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...…research in China suggests that connections are becoming more pragmatic, but that they still retain their structuring influence in social life (Yan, 2003) Reciprocity, ‘Guanxi’, ‘Renqing’ and ‘Face’ Reciprocity, particularly among family members and then society, thus is viewed as a core…...
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...Yan (2003) has shown that these filial obligations are weakening, at least in Northern China; nonetheless, they remain ideals, albeit less effective ones....
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...The transition to a market economy-- including an emergent private sector, new foreign investment, and imported cultural media (films, music)-- have greatly reshaped traditional Chinese society (Yan, 2003)....
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...For example, Yan (2003) states that, “One’s failure to fulfill the obligation of reciprocity, or to show no consideration for others’ feelings and emotional responses, is regarded as an immoral act” (p. 39)....
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TL;DR: The combined effect of sexual practices, sex work, and a true male surplus on HIV transmission is described, which believes that surplus men and sex workers will have a profound effect on the future of HIV spread in China and on the success or failure of future interventions.
Abstract: While 70% of HIV positive individuals live in sub-Saharan Africa it is widely believed that the future of the epidemic depends on the magnitude of HIV spread in India and China the world’s most populous countries. China’s 1.3 billion people are in the midst of significant social transformation which will impact future sexual disease transmission. Soon approximately 8.5 million ‘surplus men’ unmarried and disproportionately poor and migrant will come of age in China’s cities and rural areas. Meanwhile many millions of Chinese sex workers appear to represent a broad range of prices places and related HIV risk behaviors. Using demographic and behavioral data this paper describes the combined effect of sexual practices sex work and a true male surplus on HIV transmission. Alongside a rapid increase in sexually transmitted disease incidence across developed parts of urban China surplus men could become a significant new HIV risk group. The anticipated high sexual risk among many surplus men and injecting drug use use among a subgroup of surplus men may create bridging populations from high to low risk individuals. Prevention strategies that emphasize traditional measures – condom promotion sex education medical training – must be reinforced by strategies which acknowledge surplus men and sex workers. Reform within female sex worker mandatory re-education centers and site specific interventions at construction sites military areas or unemployment centers may hold promise in curbing HIV/sexually transmitted infections. From a sociological perspective we believe that surplus men and sex workers will have a profound effect on the future of HIV spread in China and on the success or failure of future interventions. (authors)
188 citations