A Sociology of Family Life. Deborah Chambers
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second section examines transnational marriage strategies that form part of geographical and social mobility. Academic responses to transnational marriage are often influenced by western values of romance, such as the idea of the pure relationship. These values shape the idea that commercial imperatives in spouse selection undermine the authenticity of the marital relationship. Involving young women and adolescent girls, marriage is often viewed as a business deal that transforms a kinship association into a form of human ‘trafficking’ (Palriwala and Uberoi 2008). Forming part of the study of the effects of migration patterns on family structures and experiences, the third section examines the political economy of marriage transactions by addressing the ways in which marriage is exploited for social mobility, including arranged marriages and commercially negotiated marriage, ‘mail order brides’ and internet dating.
The theme of families and fertility is examined in chapter 7 through a series of historical and contemporary case studies that have gained currency in global debates about population and fertility control. It investigates national population issues including birth control, family planning, infant mortality and unsafe abortions. How religious and cultural customs, state policies and global agencies have dealt with fertility and influenced family structures and values transnationally is explored. The first case study refers to Japan, which has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. Japan’s low fertility rate is explained by unfavourable employment opportunities and conditions for women, coupled with family values that favour full-time motherhood. The aggressive family and demographic policies of the Ceauşescu regime are described within the second case study, to demonstrate how women were coerced into bearing children by the state banning of contraception and abortion for women of all ages (Kligman 1998). The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) prompted a dramatic shift in the field of population and development. The ICPD produced a programme of action that recognized that reproductive health and rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality should underpin all population and development programmes. This was prompted by several issues, including revelations about the extent of misery inflicted on families by the population policies of Romania under the brutal dictatorship of Ceauşescu between 1966 and 1989. The chapter examines empirical evidence of ways in which the state and traditional customs in western and non-western cultures coalesced in regulating fertility and family practices. The legacy of the regime is further discussed in the context of the subsequent massive rise in Romanian orphans.
The third and fourth case studies addressed in chapter 7 address the impact of son preference and modern population policies on families, and particularly on the lives of women and children. Son preference is a deep-rooted cultural norm in non-western countries. How this custom has been defended and negotiated in relation to government attempts at fertility control and the availability of sex-selective abortion technologies are described in the context of India’s family planning policies and China’s one-child policy. The cases are chosen because they constitute two of the most highly populated countries of the world, with some of the most highly controversial or problematic sets of practices and customs. Son preference and preferred family composition are powerful customs that place pressure on women to make fertility decisions which conform to a deeply held tradition about the composition of the ‘proper family’. The third case study addresses sex-selective abortions in India, which have skewed the ratio of boys to girls. The chapter examines the impact of sex-selective abortions on the lives of women and girls in India, as well as government attempts to curtail the practice. China’s family planning programme, known as the one-child policy, forms the fourth case study. The effectiveness of this dramatic population policy is linked to the country’s unique system of government control. However, the strong tradition of son preference – which existed in China for more than 2,000 years – continues to be a factor discouraging compliance with the policy. Furthermore, the chapter analyses the ‘demographic transition’ in developed places such as Europe and Japan by exploring the way policies have addressed fertility issues in these ageing societies.
By exploring a further means by which government policies impact on families’ fertility decisions, chapter 8 addresses the impact of new reproductive technologies in a number of societies and among particular ethnic groups. The chapter summarizes controversies about the moral dilemmas surrounding in vitro fertilization (IVF), assisted reproduction and surrogate motherhood. The legal regulation and restrictions imposed on the use of these technologies highlight the complexities involved in definitions of parenthood, and often expose the ideology that binds ideas about kin. Issues of legitimacy are called into question by reproductive technologies. If motherhood and fatherhood were once inevitable and given, they now require definition by law. Ethnic and religious differences, migration and the effects of globalization are examined. Discrepancies between government policy and family fertility practices in the Middle East and India are explained. Feminist debates are drawn on and tested to illustrate the role feminist approaches play in understanding these past and present practices.
The final chapter deals with three key themes that characterize the book as a whole by illustrating the major challenges that have faced sociological developments in the study of family and intimate life. The first theme is family values and public perceptions of a decline in commitment and trust in family and intimate relations. This pessimistic view corresponds with the family values discourse despite recent empirical research that refutes these claims. Traditional family values are evoked by governments to identify and defend the moral standards of the nation (Stacey 1999). This family values discourse is regularly expressed in the political speeches of heads of state who realize that a discourse of family crisis and the promotion of a nuclear family form is a vote catcher. The ideology that underpins family values is addressed because it sets the parameters of public debate and has serious implications for policy formation and scholarship on family and personal life.
This focus on the exploitation of family values by political leaders includes a discussion of the racialized reproductive politics of Donald Trump during his presidency. This politics frames right-wing populist attitudes, not only about economic dissatisfaction but also about women and gender issues, and Black and minority ethnic groups. Using an intersectional approach, this section therefore addresses the politics of family, race and nation. It spotlights the global impact of the Meghan and Harry crisis that erupted in response to the Oprah interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in March 2021, which exposed racism in both the media and the British monarchy. This set of events reveals not only the intersection of institutionalized racism and sexism, but also the framing of traditional family values as ‘white’ virtues. The Black Lives Matter movement spotlights the ways in which anti-Black racism informs and shapes the everyday lives of Black families. The events surrounding this movement are addressed in this section to explain the ways in which historical and pervasive anti-Black prejudice in the US deeply impacts family life within Black communities.
The second theme considers global approaches to intimacy and family life to highlight the importance of examining interconnections between intimacy and global processes. Changes in the global economy and the global flow of ideas correspond with changes in family relations and values. Sociological reassessments of the traditional and false separation of ‘public’ and ‘private’ spheres of society draw attention to the relationship between economic and intimate spheres of life. The fusion of macro- and micro-sociological methods and debates is needed in order to understand the ways in which public and private realms of politics and work correspond with intimacy and family. This section explains intersecting local and global trends affected by conservatism and nationalism in relation to right-wing populism, to show that traditional views on gender and the family lead to harsh anti-immigration policies and racism. It highlights the restrictive immigration and family reunification practices of several European countries, which have placed the human rights of refugees and their children at risk. The interchange of neoliberalism and nationalism has also been scrutinized in research on ‘welfare chauvinism’, which is directed at migrants as a feature of the neoliberal reordering of the state. This section also considers the connection between economic, emotional and caregiving practices as fundamental features of family relations. The Covid-19 global pandemic spotlights the