Family in Social Change - A Study of Urban Families in Contemporary China

Author: Liu Baoju
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: From a sociological systemic perspective, human society is a complex organic system, and the family is the cell that constitutes this complex organic system. The family is a basic social organizational unit based on marital relationships and connected by blood ties and kinship. Traditionally, it has served economic functions such as production and consumption, reproductive functions for population growth, educational functions for cultural transmission, and recreational functions for leisure and lifestyle. Throughout the entire history of human social change, as society evolved, marriage and family gradually moved from a primitive natural state to a state of social civilization, becoming a social institution that adapts to the political, economic, cultural, ideological, and moral concepts of a specific historical period. Under this system, a person, from infancy to adulthood, marriage and establishment of a new family, and until the end of their life, the family has been their primary living environment. The book is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter outlines the biological evolution of humans from ancient primates to fully modern humans and the social transformation from savagery to modern urbanization, as well as the origin and development of marriage and family as institutionalized products of social change. The following chapters primarily explore the main impacts of social transformation and change on contemporary urban families. Using data from three urban family surveys, empirical analysis and discussion are conducted on some key changes in contemporary urban family life, including marital and family concepts, family formation, family size and structure, and family functions, as well as the main problems that exist.