Family in Russia and China: between Reforms and Traditions

Family in Russia and China: between Reforms and Traditions


Klupt M.A.

Dr. Sci. (Econ.), Professor, St. Petersburg State University of Economics, St. Petersburg, Russia klupt@mail.ru

ID of the Article: 7656


For citation:

Klupt M.A. Family in Russia and China: between Reforms and Traditions. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2019. No 5. P. 65-75




Abstract

The aim of the paper is to describe, compare and explain phenomena, which arise from interaction of the market reforms and traditional family values in both Russia and China. Discussion on application the individualization thesis to relations between family and individual in the present-day China is scrutinized. Concept of Neo-Familsm, which provides explanation of how market innovations and family traditions intertwin in China, is considered. The neo-traditional tendencies in both Russian official family doctrine and mass consciousness are analyzed. It is argued that these tendencies are caused by both dissatisfaction with the social outputs of the market reforms of the 1990s and grass-root rejection of some Western patterns in the domain of sexuality, marriage and family. At the same time, the shift to neo-traditionalism is mainly ideational phenomenon because of increasing uniformity of the spouses’ household duties in the everyday family life. The marriage and divorce rates in both Russia and China are significantly higher than in Western countries. It shows that although registered marriage continues to be an ideal in both Russia and China, the conjugation of the spouses’ interests remains as thorny as in Western societies. It is concluded that theories, focused on the institutional peculiarities of Non-Western societies, provide a more reliable base to explain family change in contemporary Russia and China than unilinear and universalistic conceptions.


Keywords
family; Russia; China; Neo-Familism; reforms; traditional values

References

Aries P. (1980) Two Successive Motivations for the Declining Birth Rate in the West. Population and Development Review. Vol. 6. No. 1: 645–650.

Bauman Z. (2005) The Individualized Society. Moscow: Logos. (In Russ.)

Barbalet J. (2016) Chinese Individualization, Revisited. Journal of Sociology. Vol. 52. No. 1: 9–23.

Beck U., Grande E. (2010) Varieties of Second Modernity: the Cosmopolitan Turn in Social and Political Theory and Research. British Journal of Sociology. Vol. 61. No. 3: 409–443.

Beck-Gernsheim E. (2012) From Rights and Obligations to Contested Rights and Obligations: Individualization, Globalization, and Family Law. Theoretical Inquiries in Law. Vol. 13. No. 1: 1–14.

Chenyue Zhao, Xudong Zhou, Feng Wang, Minmin Jiang, Hesketha T. (2017) Care for Left-behind Children in Rural China: A Realist Evaluation of a Community-based Intervention. Children and Youth Services Review. No. 82: 239–245.

China Statistical Yearbook 2017. (2017) URL: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2017/indexeh.htm (accessed 25.08.2018).

The Demographic Yearbook of Russia. (2017) Moscow: Rosstat. (In Russ.)

Duan Chengrong, Qin Min, Lai Miaohua. (2017) Study on Left-behind Wives in China. Population Journal. Vol. 39. No. 221: 5–17.

Elisseeva I.I., Xu Anqi (eds) (2015) Family in Russia and China. Process of Modernization. St. Petersburg: Nestor- Istoriia. (In Russ.)

Family Values in Contemporary Media. (2013) Moscow: Tsirkon. URL: http://www.zircon.ru/upload/ iblock/4de/Semeynie_cennosti_v_SMI_Analiticheskoe_resume.23.10.13.pdf (accessed 25.08.2018). (In Russ.)

Jia Yu Yu Xie. (2015) Cohabitation in China: Trends and Determinants. Population and Development Review. Vol. 41. No. 4: 607–628.

Haiyan Zhu, Yu Xie. (2017) Buying out of Familial Obligation: The Tradeoff between Financially Supporting versus Living with Elderly Parents in Urban China. Chines Journal of Sociology. Vol. 3. No. 1: 56–73.

Klupt M.A. (2010) Demographic Agenda of the XXI Century: Theories and Realities. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 8: 60–71. (In Russ.)

Lan Kang. (2016) Differences and Sameness between Generations: the Emergence of Neo-familism. In: Sotsiologicheskiy al'manakh 2016 [Sociological Almanac 2016]. Minsk: In-t sotsiologii NAN Belarusi: 470–483.

Lauer S., Yodanis C. (2010) The Deinstitutionalization of Marriage Revisited: A New Institutional Approach to Marriage. Journal of Family Theory & Review. Vol. 2 (March): 58–72.

Liqiu Zhao, Shouying Liu, Wei Zhang. (2018) New Trends in Internal Migration in China: Profiles of the New-generation Migrants. China and World Economy. Vol. 26. No. 1: 18–41.

Mei Zhong (2005) The Only Child Declaration: A Content Analysis of Published Stories by China's Only Children. Intercultural Communication Studies. Vol. XIV. No. 1: 9–27.

Murphy R. (2006) Domestic Migrant Remittances in China: Distribution, Channels and Livelihoods. Geneva: IOM.

Sociodemographic Picture of Russian Federation According to Results of All-Russian Population Census 2010. (2012) Moscow: IITS «Statistika Rossii». (In Russ.)

Strel’nik E.A. (2014) Public Neo-traditionalism and Family Policies in Ukraine. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological studies]. No. 9: 97–102. (In Russ.)

Van de Kaa D. (1996) Anchored Narratives: The Story and Findings of Half a Century of Research of Determinants of Fertility. Population Studies. Vol. 50. No. 3: 389–432.

Vital Statistics of Russian Federation in 2017. (2018) Moscow: Rosstat. (In Russ.)

Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, Shu Hu. (2016) Paradox in Marriage Values and Behavior in Contemporary China. Chinees Journal of Sociology. Vol. 2. No. 3: 447–476.

Xin Chun Li, Ling Chen, Jess H. Chua, Kirkman B., Rynes-Weller S., Gomez-Mejia L. (2015) Research on Chinese Family Businesses. Perspectives Management and Organization Review. Vol. 11. No. 4: 579–597.

Xianbi Huang. (2008) Guanxi Networks and Job Searches in China’s Emerging Labour Market: a Qualitative Investigation. Work, Employment and Society. Vol. 22. No. 3: 467–484.

Yunxiang Yan. (2010) The Chinese Path to Individualization. British Journal of Sociology. Vol. 61. No. 3: 489–512.

Yunxiang Yan. (2016) Intergenerational Relatedness and Neo-Familism in Contemporary China. URL: http://www.san.ed.ac.uk/events/research_seminars/2015_2016/intergenerational_relatedness_ and_neo-familism_in_contemporary_china (accessed 25.08.2018).

Zaidi В., Morgan F. (2017) The Second Demographic Transition Theory: a Review and Appraisal. Annual Review of Sociology. Vol. 43: 473–492.

Zakharov S.V. (ed.) (2017) Russia’s Population in 2015. 23rd Annual Demographic Report. Moscow: VShE. (In Russ.)

Zelikova Yu.A., Chernova Zh.V. (2012) Paternalism of Contemporary Russian Family Policy: the State Position and the Citizens’ Expectations. Chelovek. Soobshchestvo. Upravlenie [Man. Community. Management]. No. 4: 96–110. (In Russ.)

Content No 5, 2019