Changes in Family Arrangements in China and United Kindom - Coursework Example

Continuity and Change in Family Arrangements in China - A Comparison with the UK Family Number and Number of Professor Date of Submission Total Number of Words: 1,516 Family is one of the major three major institutions of the society aside from work and welfare (Hughes and Fergusson 2004, p. 2). A family circle is composed of a group of people with a common intimate and complex connection with one another Since family is considered as the basic unit of a society, it is important for each individual to fully understand how the modern family structure is functioning. Aside from the impact of culture and traditions, family arrangements can be explained by having a clear understanding about the different types of family structure. Likewise, continuous change that is taking place in the family arrangement of Chinese and English families is possible as a result of the significant change that has been currently taking place within the global markets. Political influence is also a major factor that contributes to the changes in family arrangements that is taking place in UK and in China. Extended family structure is totally different from a nuclear family structure in the sense that extended family structure is composed of husband, wife, and children together with the parents of either the husband or the wife (Poston et al. 2006, p. 53). Since the husband, wife, and children live together with the parents of either the husband or the wife, these group of individuals normally share their household responsibilities as a single family circle. For instance: The grandparents of the children may take the role as a caregiver while the parents are away from work or when one of the parents is sick. On the other hand, a nuclear family structure is composed only of a married couple including their children (Lee 1982, p. 112). Since the parents of the married couple lives either in another house close or far away from the place where the married couple lives, the husband and wife would normally share the household responsibilities depending on what the couple has agreed upon. As part of the Chinese tradition, the groom is expected to give dowry or pay the bride price in the form of valuable gifts like jewelries and watches as part of the engagement ceremony before marriage will take place (Lee 1982, p. 114). Likewise, the family of the bride would also prepare some gifts for the groom as a sign of family acceptance. Although parental authority over the husband and wife becomes limited, it is still a part of Chinese culture to seek guidance from parents every now and then especially when the couple is experiencing problems concerning the husband or the wife (ibid). Specifically the family arrangements in China follows the traditional patrilineal or patrilocal extended family (Poston et al., 2006, p. 54). It means that decisions made by the husband is often more dominant as compared to the decisions made by the wife. The influence of patrilineal kinship is also more dominant as compared to matrilineal kinship (Lee 1982, p. 145). Before China opened its economy to the world market, having a large and complex family structure is very common among Chinese families. Back then, a typical family encourages children to live with their parents. In fact, children remain living with their parents even after they get married. Since the Chinese government did not intervene about the fertility rate in China, a typical family structure in China is complex and extended. It can even be as large as having up to three generations living under one roof (Poston et al. 2006, p. 53; Levy 1971). In the absence of industrialization, life in China was very simple. In fact, young women are supported by their parents to have early marriage and early pregnancy (Poston et al. 2006, p. 53). The population of China is extremely large up to a point wherein the Chinese government has to intervene with issues related to fertility. Because of over population, Chinese government imposed a public policy of allowing only one child per family and no more than 2 children for each woman (Poston et al. 2006, p. 1). Aside from limiting each family to have at least one child, people in China were taught about the importance of limiting the size of family by using the different birth control practices and the importance of birth spacing (Poston et al, 2006, p. 53). As a result of industrialization and government intervention policy, the family structure in China started to change from having extended family structure to a smaller nuclear family structure (Tsui, 1989). Even though the family structure in China has slowly been changing from extended to nuclear family structure, the practice of having extended family structure is still present in China. The family structure in UK is totally different from the family arrangements in China in the sense that the family structure in UK strictly follows a nuclear family arrangement (ThirdWay 1992, p. 25; Lee 1982, p. 114). Aside from having a nuclear family structure as a socially accepted family arrangement, families in UK do not literally practice vertical extended family structure. Because of the high standard of living, people who live in UK often limit the number of their children to two as the preferences of most married couples. In line with this, the act of limiting the number of children makes it possible for parents to balance their time between work and spending time with the family members. There are also some exceptional to the rule cases caused by the increasing number of divorce and single parenthood in UK. Because of the decline in moral and family values, the number of single parents and divorce cases has been constantly increasing over the past decades. Given the fact that single parent need to work in order to support the financial needs of their children, there are some single parent who choose to live together with their parents in order to make it easier for them to perform their roles and responsibilities to their children. In line with this, the traditional nuclear family structure is changed with vertical extension by inviting the parents of the single parent to move in together with the children (Kirby et al. 2000, p. 66). According to a social trend survey, specifically in Northern Ireland in UK, single parent families are growing fast in number (BBC 2004). Normally, a married couple shares household expenses. However, this does not apply in the case of single mothers. The only way for single mothers to increase their income is to increase their time spent on work. Therefore, single mothers usually end up sacrificing their leisure time with her children or doing some household chores in exchange of the income she would earn while working. For this reason, single mothers often decide to re-marry in order to have their husband support them with their financial needs. Although the structure of most UK families is characterized by a standard nuclear family, evidences show that families particularly in UK has been slowly detaching from the usual nuclear family structure wherein the father is the head of the family while the mother spends more time at home taking care of the children instead of being an active part of the social working class (Arlidge 2002). Likewise, the number of divorce cases in UK has been increasing over the past decade. In line with this, the Office for National Statistics (2006) reported that the divorce rate in England and Wales fell by 7% as compared to 2005 (National Statistics, 2007). Eventhough divorce rate in UK dropped from 13.1 to 12.2 persons per 1,000 married couple from 2005 to 2006, the rate of divorce is still considered high. (See Appendix I – Divorce Rate Lowest for 22 Years on page 8) With regards to the changes in the family arrangements in UK, many sociologists believe that one of the main causes in the decline of the modern nuclear family as a social institution is due to the high divorce rate or the absence of fathers in the lives of their children (Bengston 2001; Popenoe, 1993). Aside from the after effect of the feminist movement on traditional family lifestyle, Burgess (1926) states that industrialization and modernization also creates a signifincant impact over the continuously changing functions on nuclear family in our society. Upon analyzing the family structure in China and the United Kingdom, it is clear that culture and tradition, economic status, and political intervention could significantly affect the family arrangements in a given society. Since divorce or entering into extra-marital affairs is not socially acceptable in Chinese culture and tradition, the normally accepted family structure is limited to married couple and their children. Although having an extended family structure is common in Chinese family, a more complicated family structure caused by re-marriage is very rare. On the other hand, the family arrangements in UK had become more complicated given the increasing number of divorce cases who eventually will decide to re-marry (Bernardes 1997, p. 146). Because of the increasing number of re-marriage among the divorce individuals and single parents, there is a higher chance wherein children from the previous marriage live together with another baby after re-marrying another person (Hetherington 1999, p. 48). *** End *** Appendix I – Divorce Rate Lowest for 22 Years Source: National Statistics, 2007 References Arlidge, J., 2002, May 5. Guardian Unlimited. Nuclear Family Goes into Meltdown. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 November 2010]. BBC News, 2004. Single Parent Families Increasing. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 November 2010]. Bengston, V. L., 2001. The Burgess Award Lecture: Beyond the Nuclear Family: The Increasing Importance of Multigenerational Bonds. Journal of Marriage and Family , 63, pp. 1-16. Bernardes, J., 1997. Family studies: an introduction. Routledge. Hetherington, E., 1999. Coping with divorce, single parenting, and remarriage: a risk and resiliency perspective. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Hughes, G., & Fergusson, R., 2004. Ordering Lives: Family, Work and Welfare (Understanding Social Change). 2nd edition. Routledge. Kirby, M., Kidd, W., Koubel, F., & et al., 2000. Sociology in perspective. Heinemann Educational Publishers. Lee, G. R., 1982. Family structure and interaction: a comparative analysis. 2nd Edition. University of Minnesota Press. Levy, M., 1971. The Family Revolution in Modern China. New York: Octagon Books. National Statistics, 2007, August 30. News Release: Divorce Rate Lowest for 22 Years. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 November 2010]. Popenoe, D., 1993. American Family Decline, 1960 - 1990: A Review and Appraisal. Journal of Marriage and Family , 55, pp. 527-555. Poston, D. L., Lee, C.-F., Chang, C.-F., McKibben, S. L., & Walther, C. S., 2006. Fertility, family planning, and population policy in China. Routledge. ThirdWay, 1992. ThirdWay. September Issue. Nuclear Family nonsense . Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd. . Tsui, M., 1989. Changess in Chinese Urban Family Structure. Journal of Marriage and the Family , 51, pp. 737-747. Read More