This book explores the effects of China's one child policy on modern Chinese families. It is widely thought that such a policy has contributed to the creation of a generation of little emperors or little suns spoiled by their parents and by the grandparents who have been recruited to care for the child while the middle generation goes off to work. Investigating what life is really like with three generations in close quarters and using urban Xiamen as a backdrop, the author shows how viewing the grandparents and parents as engaged in an intergenerational parenting coalition allows for a more dynamic understanding of both the pleasures and conflicts within adult relationships, particularly when they are centred around raising a child. Based on both survey data and ethnographic fieldwork, the book also makes it clear that parenting is only half the story. The children, of course, are the other. Moreover, these children not only have agency, but constantly put it to work as a way to displace the burden of expectations and steady attention that comes with being an only child in contemporary urban China. These 'lone tacticians', as Goh calls them, are not having an easy time and not all are living like spoiled children. The reality is far more challenging for all three generations. The book will be of interest to those in family studies, education, psychology, sociology, Asian Studies, and social work.

Second-Generation Transnationalism and Roots Migration represents the first comprehensive study of second-generation transnationalism, exploring the manner in which the children of migrants grow up amid travel back and forth between the country of origin and the country of immigration, while at the same time forming social attachments locally with people of other origins. Presenting rich empirical data gathered among second-generation Italians in Switzerland and southern Italy, and drawing on studies undertaken in other parts of Europe and in North America and Australia, this book investigates why as adults, members of the second generation maintain diverging transnational relations, with some sharing their parents' transnational ties and fostering social relations with co-ethnics, whilst others distance themselves from co-ethnics and rarely visit their country of origin. Yet others decide to relocate to their country of origin, a phenomenon the book conceptualizes as 'roots migration'. A rigorous exploration of the complex interplay of political, cultural and socio-economic factors in shaping the intergenerational reproduction of transnational ties, Second-Generation Transnationalism and Roots Migration will appeal to sociologists, anthropologists and geographers, with interests in migration and ethnicity, and the interrelationship of transnationalism and integration in immigration societies.

First published in 1999, this book contains the findings of an exploratory study using in-depth interviews on parenting and the dynamics of Hong Kong Chinese stepfamilies. The stepfamily is a topic which is in lack of local research in Hong Kong, but is an emerging family structure which has increasing need for professional intervention. This study began as a result of the researcher's concern about the soaring number of divorces and broken families in Hong Kong and her curiosity to uncover the untold stories of stepfamilies. The literature review, presentation and thematic analysis of the findings of this study will increase the readers knowledge and understanding of stepfamilies in contexts which are different from Western societies. This book unveils the perceptions and life experiences of the stepmothers, social workers and teachers attitudes towards stepfamilies and the parenting behaviours of stepfamilies in Hong Kong. The author has reflectively analyzed the complex interplay between the social attitudes, cultural stereotyping of stepfamilies influenced by Chinese traditional values, aspirations towards marriage and marital relationships, parental expectations and parent-child relationships, ideology and policy issues affecting professional intervention.

Drawing on both sociological and anthropological perspectives, this volume explores cross-national trends and everyday experiences of 'parenting'. Parenting in Global Perspective examines the significance of 'parenting' as a subject of professional expertise, and activity in which adults are increasingly expected to be emotionally absorbed and become personally fulfilled. By focusing the significance of parenting as a form of relationship and as mediated by family relationships across time and space, the book explores the points of accommodation and points of tension between parenting as defined by professionals, and those experienced by parents themselves. Specific themes include: the ways in which the moral context for parenting is negotiated and sustained the structural constraints to 'good' parenting (particularly in cases of immigration or reproductive technologies) the relationship between intimate family life and broader cultural trends, parenting culture, policy making and nationhood parenting and/as adult 'identity-work'. Including contributions on parenting from a range of ethnographic locales - from Europe, Canada and the US, to non-Euro-American settings such as Turkey, Chile and Brazil, this volume presents a uniquely critical and international perspective, which positions parenting as a global ideology that intersects in a variety of ways with the political, social, cultural, and economic positions of parents and families.

On Divorce is an anti-divorce treatise by Louis de Bonald, originally published in 1801 in response to the institution of divorce in France in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Examining the social structures of Christians, Jews, Asians, Greeks, and Romans, On Divorce links a theory of the family to a theory of politics and argues the family is a basic component of a stable society. As a politician, Bonald gave a crucial anti-divorce speech in the French legislature that summarized the argument of On Divorce. Due largely to Bonald's efforts, France abolished divorce in 1816.

According to Bonald, human society is composed of three interactive societies: religious society, domestic society (the family), and public society (the state). These societies operate on common principles and can only be analyzed in relation to one another. Since, in this view, the family, not the individual, is the basic unit of society, divorce represents a fundamental assault on the social order.

Bonald was one of the three principal founders of conservatism, along with Edmund Burke and Joseph de Maistre. Bonald's influence has been felt across the political spectrum and in areas as diverse as political theory, sociology, and literature. Of great interest to students of political philosophy, this work will be of equal value to those concerned with divorce and other social questions.

This book explores contemporary families as sites of consumption, examining the changing contexts of family life, where new forms of family are altering how family life is practised and produced, and addressing key social issues - childhood obesity, alchohol and drug addiction, social networking, viral marketing - that put pressure on families as the social, economic and regulatory environments of consumption change.

This book disputes the traditional argument that the equal inheritance system hinders the growth of Chinese family business, approaching this not only in terms of economic capital, but also in terms of human capital such as education and leadership, and social networks. Zheng argues that most of the family business patriarchs only focus on the passing on economic capital, but give little attention to human capital and social capital when the come to the stage to transfer control to the next level. It further elaborates that the equal inheritance system itself isn't the destructive force that weakens family business competitiveness, but can assist economic development by generating dynamism and capital. Based on extensive primary research, the work discusses how equal division encourages sibling comparison, analysing how such comparisons initially generate stress and anxiety but will ultimately galvanize competition, benefiting the business. The author also assesses how family division can offer initial economic human and social capitals that can motivate siblings to start their own businesses and be free from the subjugation sometimes associated with a family firm. Through the evaluation of these issues the book argues that the equal inheritance system can be regarded as the origin of the self-employment mentality, which not only fosters the growth of Chinese family business by plays crucial role in promoting economic development. Providing a valuable contribution to the field, this work will be of great interest to all scholars of Chinese and Asian business.

This edited volume provides a comprehensive and critical review of what we know about military service and the life course, what we don't know, and what we need to do to better understand the role of military service in shaping people's lives. It demonstrates that the military, like colleges and prisons, is a key social institution that engages individuals in early adulthood and shapes processes of cumulative (dis)advantage over the life course. The chapters provide topical synthesizes of the vast but diffuse research literatures on military service and the life course, while the volume as a whole helps to set the agenda for the next generation of data collection and scholarship. Chapter authors pay particular attention to how the military has changed over time; how experiences of military service vary across cohorts and persons with different characteristics; how military service affects the lives of service members' spouses, children, and families; and the linkages between research and policy.

First published in 1914, W. H. R. Rivers' hugely influential study was the first to effectively demonstrate the close connection between methods of denoting relationship or kinship and forms of social organisation, including those based on different forms of the institution of marriage. He also shows that the terminology of relationship has been rigorously determined by social conditions and that, therefore, systems of relationship furnish us with a most valuable instrument in studying the history of social institutions. This series of lectures was orginally delivered by the author in May 1914, at the London School of Economics. They are based on the experiences of the Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to Melanesia in 1908.

This is the intimate and richly informative diary kept in 1910 by the young wife of a bustling merchant household in Kyoto. Makiko's husband was the had of his family's pharmaceutical business, and because the store and the family's living quarters were under one roof, it was a very busy place. Makiko writes perceptively about both special occasions (such as weddings, funerals, ancestral memorial services, and festivals) and the daily routine of the complex household. Almost all of the Japanese women whose accounts of family life are available in English were members of the elite or individuals who distinguish themselves in public life or in the arts. Makiko's Diary differs in that it is a spirited, first-hand account of the domestic world of a housewife, the role played by the vast majority of Japanese women. Makiko herself emerges as an engaging young woman, displaying flashes of sly humor, anger, sarcasm, and self-pity to temper her usual cheerfulness, eagerness to please, and determination to become a better person. Hers is a compelling voice.

Same-sex marriage is now legal in twenty-nine countries and the subject of continued debate around the world. The Political Economy of Same-Sex Marriage: A Feminist Critique considers this debate from a political economy perspective. Rather than engaging directly in the now well-rehearsed social-movement and academic for-and-against debates, this book focuses on processes of institutionalization of same-sex marriage and so-called "rainbow families" within (neo)liberal capitalist democracies. It examines how states and markets appropriate same-sex marriage and family to enhance their own political and symbolic capital, consolidating power and profit within existing systems of gendered and raced socioeconomic stratification. Taking a radical feminist, heterodox, qualitative and intersectional approach, this book investigates the political economy of same-sex marriage across three axes: same-sex marriage as institution; same-sex marriage and the market; and the political economy of the "rainbow family". The examination of case studies from different countries and regions enables a comparative analysis that foregrounds cultural, political and economic path dependencies while at the same time highlighting a number of striking commonalities. In all the countries discussed in this book and in most respects, same-sex marriage has been integrated almost seamlessly into a mainstream/malestream political economy of marriage and family and its translation into added market and productive value. The Political Economy of Same-Sex Marriage: A Feminist Critique will be of use to researchers and students alike, and indeed to all those who are curious about the mainstreaming of homosexuality within twenty-first-century capitalist democracies.

This study examines cases of fornication, bastardy, and paternity cases brought before the courts in Essex County, Massachusetts between 1640 and 1692. Prosecution and conviction rates, sentencing patterns, and socio-economic data, as well as attitudes, were analyzed to determine that women who bore illegitimate children were punished more severely than their male partners, and regarded with contempt by the majority of women.

Heterosexuality is a largely 'silent' set of practices and identities - it is assumed to be everywhere and yet often remains unnamed and unexplored. Despite recent changes in the theoretical understanding and representation of sexuality, heterosexuality continues to be socially normative. Forging a new agenda for the study of heterosexuality, this in-depth volume, the first research monograph to focus on heterosexuality and society, presents an empirical study of the construction, negotiation and enactment of heterosexual sexuality. Using detailed interview data, it investigates how heterosexuality, as both an identity and a set of practices, is accomplished through love relationships. Rather than assuming that romantic love is an outcome or expression of a pre-defined sexuality, Johnson explores how sexuality is brought to life through love. Situated in the ongoing theoretical debates concerning the relationship between gender and sexuality, Paul Johnson's book shows how ways of loving are interwoven with the construction, practice, regulation and government of heterosexuality. Excellently written, this important book also looks at gender in society, and explores such areas as heterosexual subjectivities and the borders of desire. As such, the research it contains will be valuable for all students of sociology and gender studies.

First published in 1999, this volume examines the 'meanings' specific child protection cases involving the familial sexual abuse of adolescent girls hold for social workers. This is achieved through a qualitative analysis of a series of interviews with social workers regarding current or recent cases. The analysis reveals various influences on social workers' practice: the organisation and administrative structure of child protection, governmental requirements to interagency coordination, the abused girl, her family, and the skills and limitations of the social worker. The findings point to a series of tensions between social workers' perceptions of appropriate intervention practice on the one hand and organisational needs, the demands of the criminal justice system and client choice on the other. This leads to recommendations for improved in-service training, including joint training for social workers and police officers, and a review of the transitional procedures between child protection and adult services.

Not long after her father died, Afsaneh Najmabadi discovered that her father had a secret second family and that she had a sister she never knew about. In Familial Undercurrents, Najmabadi uncovers her family's complex experiences of polygamous marriage to tell a larger story of the transformations of notions of love, marriage, and family life in mid-twentieth-century Iran. She traces how the idea of "marrying for love" and the desire for companionate, monogamous marriage acquired dominance in Tehran's emerging urban middle class. Considering the role played in that process by late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century romance novels, reformist newspapers, plays, and other literature, Najmabadi outlines the rituals and objects---such as wedding outfits, letter writing, and family portraits---that came to characterize the ideal companionate marriage. She reveals how in the course of one generation men's polygamy had evolved from an acceptable open practice to a taboo best kept secret. At the same time, she chronicles the urban transformations of Tehran and how its architecture and neighborhood social networks both influenced and became emblematic of the myriad forms of modern Iranian family life.

How do people communicate their romantic feelings? Gift giving is one way. Giving and receiving of gifts is a characteristic of intimate relationships. Gifts are a message, a form of communication with a tangible material object, about love, affection, or concern for the recipient. The "romantic gift" evokes a multitude of intertwined meanings: passion, intimacy, affection, persuasion, care, celebration, altruism, and nostalgia. They can also connote the negative images of obligation and reciprocity. Romantic gift giving may be practiced at rituals, during rites of passage, or for casual occasions, to affirm the continued importance of the romantic relationship. We may even romanticize the giving of gifts to the self, to nonhuman companions, and to others we do not know personally. If loving and giving are a practice, then romantic gift giving is a practice of loving with intimate-or would-be intimate-others. This book addresses gift giving among consumers attempting to express and construct romantic love. It lies at the intersection of consumption, markets, and culture. In societies shaped by the globalizing neo-liberal economic order, increasing wealth disparity, and a partially digitized social environment that they help to co-construct, it may be time to rethink romantic love. Gift giving is a key arena to do so, as gifts make love tangible and act as carriers of meaning as well as cultural symbols. In gift giving the meanings of romance are renewed, renegotiated, and reconstructed. Gifts, Romance, And Consumer Culture demonstrates a wide variety of scholarly work bearing on romantic gift giving using an interpretive consumer research perspective. The book introduces critical studies by scholars in this unfolding and new interdisciplinary field.

This book provides a socio-psychological enquiry of the phenomenon of suicide in the Indian context. It addresses the rising trend of suicides across the world and through case studies explores its primary reasons, the after-effects on survivors and families and measures to prevent them. The volume focuses on deciphering the social and psychological meanings associated with suicide. Through an examination of psycho-social autopsies of numerous cases, it highlights the patterns and trends which emerge around mental well-being, suicide and bereavement. It examines the primary roadblocks for robust suicide prevention measures and provides great insights into behavioral and personality categories and their relationship with suicide. Offering theoretical and empirical perspectives on the issue of suicide and self-harm, this book will be of interest to students, researchers, and faculty of behavioral sciences, psychology, social anthropology, demography, criminology, social work and sociology. It will also be an essential read for psychologists and counselors, policy makers, NGOs, CSOs, legal experts and media personnel working in the area of suicide prevention and research.

In this comprehensive volume, authors from across the social sciences explore how housing wealth transfers have impacted the integration of families, society and the economy, with a focus on the (re)negotiation of the 'generational contract'. While housing has always been central to the realization and reproduction of families, more recently, the mutual embedding of home and family has become more obvious as realignments in housing markets, employment and welfare states have worked together to undermine housing access for new households, enhancing intergenerational interdependencies. More families have thus become involved in smoothening the routes of younger adult members into and up the 'housing ladder'. While intergenerational support appears to have become much more widespread, it remains highly differentiated across countries, cities and regions, as well as uneven between social and income classes. This book addresses the increasing role that family support, and intergenerational transfers in particular, are playing in sustaining the formation of new households and the transition of young adults towards social and economic autonomy. The authors draw on diverse international cases and a variety of methodologies in order to advance our understanding of housing as a key driver of contemporary social relations and inequalities. Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9780367262822_oachapter1.pdf Chapter 6 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9780367262822_oachapter6.pdf Chapter 9 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9780367262822_oachapter9.pdf Chapter 8 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9780367262822_oachapter8.pdf

This book explores multiple facets of femininity for marriage in India. Using language as an entry point, it looks at how and why media representations of gender identities are constructed the way they are. It works with a unique synthesis of second-wave feminist discourse and empirical linguistic research to look at how the social institution of marriage becomes the site of interaction between language, ideology, psyche and culture. This volume also brings together the personal histories and views of women who discuss how media, modernity and social norms shape their ideas about marriage and selfhood. Deconstructing perceptions of femininity in contemporary India, the book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of sociology, gender studies, linguistics, media and cultural studies and psychoanalysis.

2nd and 3rd year core modules/courses on Family Policy and Comparative Social Policy. Also Women's Studies - 2nd and 3rd year core component of social policy. Challenging Motherhood examines contemporary social and legal constructions of motherhood in the context of a more general discussion of the future of families in Western and British society. The text looks at the ways in which Motherhood has come to be scrutinised and challenged according to a particular set of Western ideals as to what motherhood could and should entail.

Published in 1948: Parents have many problems. Those dealt with in this are mainly the social and emotional difficulties arising in the development of children in their early years. The material is selected from a much larger bulk of actual letters from parents and nurses which the author answered under the pseudonym of "Ursula Wise" in The Nursery World (published by Benn Bros.)during the years 1929-36.

Young Families: Gender, Sexuality and Care draws together unique and compelling essays about the contexts of early childbearing, a topic that is now taken for granted. It draws on empirical data, multi-level approaches and inter-disciplinary perspectives on the dynamics that underpin young people's experiences of being pregnant, having a child and caring for the child. The book explores the contexts in which young families are constituted and shaped along with the kinds of social relationships and communities of care that early childbearing creates (or in some instances destroys). It shows the entanglement of gender, sexuality, race, age and class in the formation of young families and its effects on caring practices. This book draws together unique and compelling accounts that address a gap in the existing literature on families in South Africa while also providing an understanding of the diversity of young South African families. Young Families will be of interest and of benefit to those in the fields of Women and Gender studies, Anthropology, Education, Sociology, History and Demography.

This book examines the rise of welfare markets in Western societies and explores their functioning, regulation and embeddedness by addressing the particular field of old age provision, including both retirement provision and elderly care. It goes beyond a mere social policy analysis by investigating major cultural underpinnings of the new (quasi-)markets, with these underpinnings embracing collective normative representations of how societies (should) institutionally handle old age. The book looks at whether pension and care systems are converging under the influence of globalization - with marketization being a key phenomenon - and to what extent this is creating a transnational culture of welfare markets. This book, the first book to systematically describe and analyse the phenomenon of welfare markets, elucidates the complex cultural underpinnings of care and pensions systems in an era of marketization, arguing that we are facing a cultural struggle over the way late modern societies conceptualize institutional old-age provision.