8.0 Introduction
8.0 Introduction
As discussed in Chapter 3,marriage and the family are often seen as the social unit.They have played a critical role in reproduction and social development (Ye et al.,1998).Marriage and family are very important for people,linking closely to both individuals and society (Deng &Xu,2001).As we have seen,marriage is a relationship between wives and husbands,which traditionally involves both sexuality and mutual responsibility (Allan,1999),while the family is an important basic social institution and a social group (Murdock,1949;Wilson,1995).
In China,following Marxism,academics suggest that a political and economic system is the base of marriage and the family systems (Mi,2005).Different forms of marriage and family are a part of different social systems.For example,feudal marriage and family was built on a small-scale economy and on patriarchal organisation of society,whereas capitalist marriage and family is built on a commodity economy rather than on patriarchal structures.Within this context,the relationship of family members may tend to be commodifi ed.Socialist marriage and family is built on the socialist political and economic system.Such marriage and family is different from others because it has a feature of socialist public ownership.With the development of the economy,the socialist marriage and family will be developed further.
Some academics and practitioners (Li,2000) argue that the base of a happy marriage and family is love,which should include friendship,emotions and sexuality.There may be a problem occurring in marriage and family if any of these are absent.They also argue that this base depends on common values between a man and a woman.According to this view,economy,status and personality are less important than values within marriage and family.Such values will decide whether marriage and family is stable,happy and healthy[1].They further state that family duty,as well as love between men and women,is very important for marriage and family.The longer the relationship between men and women lasts,the stronger this duty becomes.
Other academics state that a base of marriage and family consists of thought,law and material conditions (Yi,2004).The relationship of these three components cannot be separated in marriage and family.They will be affected by the different social factors at the different times.It is not enough for marriage and family to be based only on the contract or license or on any one base.But other academics argue that material wealth is a key base of marriage and family because it will impact on women's position in the home (Li,2000).Women should have equal economic rights with men in the home and not depend on men economically in order to have gender equality in the home.
From these opinions on marriage and family by some academics and practitioners,we can see that they indicate that marriage and family is influenced by social systems and social economies though they differ on how important this is.
Let us look at how the interviewees conceptualise marriage and family.In the interviews,respondents were asked about their marriage – whether they thought their marriage was happy,and how they saw the quality of their marriage.When I coded my interview data,I found that my interviewees expressed their attitude toward marriage and family with their different perspectives.Specifically,they thought that a happy marriage and family is built on understanding,support,respect,common progress,nature,educational background,family as centre,family responsibility,and so on.However,by contrast,I found that the majority of my interviewees focused commonly on two things:mutual understanding and family duty as the base of marriage and family.