Fatherhood, Adolescence and Gender in Chinese Families

Little is known about the roles of fathers in non-western cultures. Given the changing socio-economic and political circumstances of China, Xu identifies the importance of investigating Chinese fathers, particularly in dual-earner families, as women's participation in the labour market increases. This study of father-daughter relationships examines their perspectives on their relationships and identities. The book seeks to understand how girls construct their feminine identities as teenage girls and how fathers understand their masculine identities outside the workplace. It further explores their family practices and how they negotiate parental authority and adolescent independence. Inviting us to think about Chinese people's attitudes, family practice, emotions and aspirations, which constitute a crucial complement to our understanding of the remaking of Chinese society and Chinese lives, Fatherhood, Adolescence and Gender in Chinese Families focuses on how the widespread social and economic reforms interact with traditional attitudes rooted in Confucianism to provide new contexts for parent-child and gender relationships.

Autorentext
Qiong Xu is a Visiting Research Associate at UCL Institute of Education, University of London, UK. Her main research interest is young people and their family lives.

Inhalt

1. Mapping the Chinese contexts: cultural influences and social changes.- 2. Only child, only hope: living in a Chinese family.- 3. Orienting frameworks and concepts.- 4. Being a modern teenage girl and relationships with parents.- 5. Father's role in the contemporary Chinese family.- 6. A journey through time: Precious time and family practice.- 7. Negotiation in the family: parental authority and adolescents' autonomy.- 8. Conclusion