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Son Preference Reconfigured? A Qualitative Study of Migration and Social Change in Four Chinese Villages*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2015

Lisa Eklund
Lisa Eklund*
Affiliation:
Lund University, Sweden. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Drawing from ethnographic data from 48 households in four villages in rural Anhui, this study explores how two practices known for upholding son preference are affected by rural–urban out-migration, with a particular focus on the division of labour in agricultural work and patrilocality. The study deploys the concepts of an intergenerational contract and the “unsubstitutability” of sons and finds that a weakening of the intergenerational contract can take place without substantially challenging the unsubstitutability of sons. The study concludes that although male out-migration undermines the argument that sons are needed to secure male manual labour in family farming, the vital role of male labour as a rural livelihood strategy largely persists. Moreover, although the study identifies migration-induced exceptions, patrilocality remains the main organizing principle for social and economic life for both male and female migrants. Hence, the study finds little support for the prospect that migration is attenuating son preference in rural China.

摘要

基于对安徽农村地区四个村庄的 48 个家庭的调查, 本研究旨在探讨农业劳动人口向城市外迁的现象如何影响了农业劳动分工和 “从夫居” 这两种导致男孩偏好传统的实践。文章围绕 “代际间合约” 与儿子的 “不可替代性” 这两个概念展开讨论, 发现代际间合约可以在儿子的 “不可替代性” 不发生显著变化的情况下被弱化。本文结论是尽管农村男性外迁削弱了 “农村依靠儿子来保证家庭农业生产的人力资源” 这一论断, 但男性劳动力作为农村家庭营生策略的重要地位没有被动摇。此外, 尽管出现了由外迁导致的例外情况, 但 “从夫居” 仍然是向城市外迁的男性和女性在经济社会生活中遵循的基本原则。因此, 农业劳动人口向城市外迁并不构成弱化中国农村 “男孩偏好” 传统的主要因素。

Keywords

son preferenceintergenerational contractmigrationrural Chinadivision of labourpatrilocality男孩偏好重男轻女代际间合约迁移中国农村劳动力分工从夫居
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 224 , December 2015 , pp. 1026 - 1047
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Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2015 

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Footnotes

*

Generous support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) is gratefully acknowledged. I am also very grateful for the valuable comments two anonymous reviewers provided on an earlier version of this article.

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