Description
From civil war to Japanese occupation and communist revolution to market transition, China has undergone and continues to experience enormous economic, political, and social change. In Remaking Families in Contemporary China, Xiaoying Qi explores a number of emerging family practices in China today that result from these ongoing changes. Drawing upon 178 in-depth interviews with young adults, married adults, and grandparents throughout China, she finds that ordinary people are transforming their patterns of behavior and expectations in dealing with a changing world, and in so doing, remaking their families. Filling a gap in the current research, Qi investigates novel aspects of family life, such as the practice of providing a child with its mother's surname rather than its father's in an intriguing exercise of veiled patriarchy. She also identifies a new category of floating grandparents, which consists of rural and small-town grandparents who join their adult children in the massive labor migration that characterizes the modern Chinese workforce in order to provide childcare. In addition, Qi examines other often overlooked topics, including spousal intimacy, divorce, and remarriage and co-habitation in later life. Offering new insights and theoretical developments, Remaking Families in Contemporary China highlights why family-related themes are important to understanding the nature of Chinese society, the forces that underpin social relationships more broadly, and the basis and nature of social change around the world.
About the Author
Xiaoying Qi is an Australian sociologist who has extensive research experience in China. Associate Professor Qi's publications include articles in American Journal of Cultural Sociology, British Journal of Sociology, International Sociology, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, Journal of Sociology, and Sociology. Her earlier book, Globalized Knowledge Flows and Chinese Social Theory (2014), was awarded The Raewyn Connell Prize Special Commendation of The Australian Sociological Association.
Reviews
In Remaking Families in Contemporary China, Xiaoying Qi counters those who have argued that increasing individualization will erode connections between parents and their adult children. Instead, close study of naming practices, grandparenting, divorce, and remarriage captures the fluidity and emotional resilience that bind together members of different generations. A superb contribution to the growing literature on the vitality and complexity of enduring family commitments under conditions of mass migration and an ever more competitive market economy. * Deborah Davis, Yale University, and co-editor of Wives, Husbands and Lovers: Marriage and Sexuality in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Urban China *
Remaking Families in Contemporary China is a rich study of how intimate relationships are changing. Based on 178 interviews, it details new practices around family naming, and around grandparents relocating to provide support. In examining these and other changes, Qi challenges Eurocentric approaches to family life, providing a valuable account of the altered but continued importance of family obligations in China. * Mary Holmes, Professor of Emotions and Society, Sociology, University of Edinburgh *
Through its rich empirical probing of changes in styles of family life and new family practices wrought by China's economic transformations, this gem of a book overturns many conventional ideas about Chinese families whilst also complicating prevailing sociological theories about family obligation, marital intimacy and intergenerational exchange. Qi's highly original and lively book is a 'must-read' for researchers and students of both contemporary Chinese studies and family sociology. * Rachel Murphy, Professor of Chinese Development and Society, University of Oxford *
This book, based on extensive qualitative research, offers a welcome corrective to generalized claims about the purported effects of neoliberalism or individualization on Chinese families. Xiaoying Qi reveals the complex and subtle ways in which family members negotiate China's social transformations, showing us how families are changing but nonetheless remain central to social life in China. * Stevi Jackson, Professor of Women's Studies, University of York *
This is a must-read volume for both specialists and lay readers who are interested in contemporary Chinese families. * G. Li, California State University, Choice Connect *
Awards
Winner of Winner, 2022 Stephen Crook Memorial Prize, Australian Sociological Association.
Book Information
ISBN 9780197510988
Author Xiaoying Qi
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 612g
Dimensions(mm) 155mm * 231mm * 25mm
About the Author
Xiaoying Qi is an Australian sociologist who has extensive research experience in China. Associate Professor Qi's publications include articles in American Journal of Cultural Sociology, British Journal of Sociology, International Sociology, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, Journal of Sociology, and Sociology. Her earlier book, Globalized Knowledge Flows and Chinese Social Theory (2014), was awarded The Raewyn Connell Prize Special Commendation of The Australian Sociological Association.
Reviews
In Remaking Families in Contemporary China, Xiaoying Qi counters those who have argued that increasing individualization will erode connections between parents and their adult children. Instead, close study of naming practices, grandparenting, divorce, and remarriage captures the fluidity and emotional resilience that bind together members of different generations. A superb contribution to the growing literature on the vitality and complexity of enduring family commitments under conditions of mass migration and an ever more competitive market economy. * Deborah Davis, Yale University, and co-editor of Wives, Husbands and Lovers: Marriage and Sexuality in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Urban China *
Remaking Families in Contemporary China is a rich study of how intimate relationships are changing. Based on 178 interviews, it details new practices around family naming, and around grandparents relocating to provide support. In examining these and other changes, Qi challenges Eurocentric approaches to family life, providing a valuable account of the altered but continued importance of family obligations in China. * Mary Holmes, Professor of Emotions and Society, Sociology, University of Edinburgh *
Through its rich empirical probing of changes in styles of family life and new family practices wrought by China's economic transformations, this gem of a book overturns many conventional ideas about Chinese families whilst also complicating prevailing sociological theories about family obligation, marital intimacy and intergenerational exchange. Qi's highly original and lively book is a 'must-read' for researchers and students of both contemporary Chinese studies and family sociology. * Rachel Murphy, Professor of Chinese Development and Society, University of Oxford *
This book, based on extensive qualitative research, offers a welcome corrective to generalized claims about the purported effects of neoliberalism or individualization on Chinese families. Xiaoying Qi reveals the complex and subtle ways in which family members negotiate China's social transformations, showing us how families are changing but nonetheless remain central to social life in China. * Stevi Jackson, Professor of Women's Studies, University of York *
This is a must-read volume for both specialists and lay readers who are interested in contemporary Chinese families. * G. Li, California State University, Choice Connect *
Awards
Winner of Winner, 2022 Stephen Crook Memorial Prize, Australian Sociological Association.
Book Information
ISBN 9780197510988
Author Xiaoying Qi
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 612g
Dimensions(mm) 155mm * 231mm * 25mm
