Reinstating the Family: Intergenerational Influence on Assortative Mating in China

Abstract

Prevailing research on assortative mating marginalizes the agency of third parties. Yet, in China, an intergenerational perspective may be useful because family members have participated in spouse selection to maintain homogamy. Using Fudan Yangtze River Delta Social Transformation Survey, we found 20 percent of young adults found their spouse through family introduction. Education reduces, while family resources increase, young people’s reliance on family. For women but not men, reliance on family increased homogamy and somewhat reduced female hypogamy, particularly on ascribed characteristics. These findings suggest that family roles should be carefully analyzed to capture the search context in which marriages are created.

Acknowledgments

We thank Xiaogang Wu, Lijun Song, Zheng Mu, Yue Qian, Duoduo Xu, and Anning Hu for their helpful comments and suggestions. Previous versions of this paper were presented at the 2016 AAS-in-Asia Annual Meeting, Kyoto, Japan and S5 workshop organized by Professor Xiaogang Wu in New York University-Shanghai. This research was supported by Professor Xin Liu’s project “Social Stratification and Mobility in Transitional China,” awarded by the National Talent Plan “Cultural Masters in the Fields of Academy, Art, Art Management, and International Communication.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Felicia F. Tian

Felicia F. Tian ([email protected]) is an associate professor of sociology at Fudan University, China. Her research interests include marriage and family, social networks, and social stratification and mobility in Chinese society. Her research has appeared in Journal of Marriage and Family, Demographic Research, Social Networks, and Chinese Sociological Review.

Deborah S. Davis

Deborah S. Davis ([email protected]) is a professor emerita of sociology at Yale University, USA. During her forty years on the Yale faculty Davis served as director of academic programs at the Yale Center for Study of Globalization, chair of the Department of Sociology, and co-chair of the Women Faculty Forum. Since 2016 she has been a distinguished visiting professor at Fudan University in Shanghai and on faculty of the Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University. She also serves on the editorial boards of The China Quarterly and The China Review and is a Trustee of the Yale China Association.