Masculine Compromise: Migration, Family, and Gender in China

by Susanne Yuk-Ping Choi, Yinni Peng

Overview

Drawing on the life stories of 266 migrants in South China, Choi and Peng examine the effect of mass rural-to-urban migration on family and gender relationships, with a specific focus on changes in men and masculinities. They show how migration has forced migrant men to renegotiate their roles as lovers, husbands, fathers, and sons. They also reveal how migrant men make masculine compromises: they strive to preserve the gender boundary and their symbolic dominance within the family by making concessions on marital power and domestic division of labor, and by redefining filial piety and fatherhood. The stories of these migrant men and their families reveal another side to China’s sweeping economic reform, modernization, and grand social transformations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520288270
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	02/09/2016
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Susanne Y. P. Choi is Professor of Sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Yinni Peng is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Hong Kong Baptist University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: Migration, Family, and Masculinity in Postsocialist China
2. Marginal Men and China’s Grand Narratives
3. Striking a Balance: Courtship, Sexuality, and Marriage
4. Conjugal Power and Diverse Strategies
5. Housework and Respectability
6. Migration, Fatherhood, and Emotionality
7. Filial Piety from Afar: Migrant Sons Renegotiating Elderly Care
8. Masculine Compromise: A Feminist Framework of Changing Masculinity

Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Masculine Compromise presents a true-to- life depiction of the experience of rural men living on the margins of urban society. It does so with subtlety and sensitivity, quietly documenting men’s private aspirations and personal failures…"

Contemporary Sociology

"Masculine Compromise is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the vast cohort of male Chinese migrants as they attempt to navigate changing identities as husbands and fathers."

The China Journal

"Rich in detail and lively in style, the engaging ethnographic and qualitative accounts serve the purpose of the books well to destigmatise prevalent stereotypes and showcase the diversity of the “floating population” in post-socialist China."

Nan Nü

"The primary contribution of this book is Choi and Peng’s insightful framework of “masculine compromise,” which they use throughout the book to vividly describe the strategies and practices of migrant men."

Gender and Society

"Impressive and innovative.. The book deftly presents theories, empirically rich, and also rather comprehensible to readers. I would strongly recommend it to scholars who engage in gender and migration studies in China and beyond, as well as anyone who is interested in migration, family and gender issues."

New Books Asia

"This well-written, persuasive and enjoyable book is a timely and much-needed contribution to the literature of rural-to-urban migration in China."

Sociological Research Outline

"Drawing upon rich narratives that speak to intimacy and emotionality within men’s experiences as husbands/partners, fathers, and sons… this book makes a significant, compelling addition to the scholarship on family life and gender relations in contemporary China."

American Journal of Sociology

"The book deftly presents theories, empirically rich, and also rather comprehensible to readers. I would strongly recommend it to scholars who engage in gender and migration studies in China and beyond, as well as anyone who is interested in migration, family and gender issues."

International Institute for Asian Studies

"Masculine Compromise makes a prominent contribution to the existing literature of men and rural–urban migration in China, with a primary focus on the migrant men’s family lives and personal relationships. . . . The book captures the power of patriarchy and the notion of masculine ideals through unfolding the patrilineal and patrilocal practices in the migrant men’s everyday lives."

Sociology