Parenting in the Hidden Market: How Urban Mothers Enacted Roles Amidst Policy Turbulency in China

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 5:25 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Toward Family Engagement: Reimagining Parental Involvement (Table 6)

Abstract

This study employs qualitative research methods to explore how Chinese urban mothers navigate the complex transformation of roles from "consumer agents" to "teaching and research fellows" amidst the policy-induced opacity of the shadow education market. In this transformation, mothers experience an increase in parenting labor tasks and the consumption of significant amounts of time and emotional energy. Concurrently, their relationships with schools become more intimate. Despite a widespread sense of anxiety among mothers, class-based inequalities and distinctions continue to exist within the practice of parenting.

Authors

• Xinyue Zhou, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Hui Dong, East China Normal University