Is patriarchy undermined in urbanization? Rural families and housing properties in relocated villages in the urbanizing northwestern China

Jing SONG*, Lulu LI

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

Abstract

China’s urbanization has relocated many rural families, but it remains unclear if such changes undermine patriarchy. This study draws on survey and interview data in northwestern China to examine what prevailing principles families draw on in dividing the newly acquired family wealth (1) between parents and children, (2) between elder and younger children, and (3) between sons and daughters. These family decisions are not triggered by life course changes but are induced by a sudden increase in family wealth, which may differ from what usually happens in rural families. Quantitative comparison and qualitative case analysis suggest the accelerated downstream transfers from parents and the mixed desires to prioritize sons’ housing needs, care for each child’s entitlement, compensate less privileged children, and secure parents’ elderly care. The persisting values and rising desires, as reflected by multiple principles of altruism, exchange, entitlement, son preference, and need, contributed to the persisting gender effect and the ambiguous generation and parity effects—parents and elder children did not have apparent advantages in family property structures when rural families were relocated or enclosed into urban areas.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages22
JournalChinese Sociological Review
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 23 Oct 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Funding

This study was supported by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (General Research Fund, CUHK14609219) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41901140).

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