Engendering the Transition: Establishing An Independent Residence in China

• In Event: 2351 - Section on the Sociology of Sex and Gender Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 4. Gendered Differences Arose Institutions

Abstract

One oft-cited example of the deinstitutionalization of the transition to adulthood in the West is adult children’s “failure to launch.” To explain this delay in establishing an independent residence, some social scientists refer to broad societal trends, such as deindustrialization and the increasing competitiveness and changing structure of the job market. Yet China has experienced deindustrialization and an even more competitive job market, with wages falling 16 percent between 2016 and 2017. Nevertheless, 70 percent of Chinese young people own their own homes, as compared to only 35 percent of Americans of the same age. This disparity is all the more surprising, given how researchers tend to associate family-oriented cultures like that of China with a lower likelihood of leaving the natal home. Drawing on 100 interviews with young men and women in two southwestern Chinese provinces, we argue that parents and cultural norms play an important role in encouraging young people to establish an independent residence. They do this in such a way that “genders” this marker of adulthood, a phenomenon that has not received research attention. Many Chinese treat buying a home as the groom’s responsibility, and this responsibility can translate into important marital power. In reality, the high price of real estate often necessitates at least some contribution from brides or their families. But the cultural assumption of male responsibility for home ownership can serve to obscure women’s contributions, with important implications for their future trajectories.

Authors

• Danielle Kane

• Ke Li, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the City University of New York