Families in Asia provides a unique sociological analysis of family trends in Asia. Stella R. Quah uses demographic and survey data, personal interviews and case studies from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam to provide a wide-ranging comparative analysis of family trends and the role of the state and social policy. Focusing on the most relevant and significant aspects of family and kin, chapters include: Concepts and research trends Family forming Parenthood Grandparenthood Gender roles in families Marriage breakdown The impact of Socio-economic development This new edition has been updated and expanded throughout and includes new material on dowry, singlehood, adoption, the transformation of the senior generation, changes in family courts and the role of the state in family wellbeing. Families in Asia will be the perfect companion for students and scholars alike who are interested in family sociology, public and social policy, and Asian society and culture more broadly.

Research on the family has expanded considerably across Asia but studies tend to be fragmented, focusing on narrow issues within limited areas (cities, towns, small communities) and may not be accessible to international readers. These limitations make it difficult for researchers, students, policy makers, and practitioners to obtain the information they need. The Routledge Handbook of Families in Asia fills that gap by providing a current and comprehensive analysis of Asian families by a wide range of experts in a single publication. The thirty-two chapters of this comparative and multi-disciplinary volume are organized into nine major themes: conceptual approaches, methodological issues, family life in the context of culture, family relationships across the family life cycle, issues of work and income, stress and conflict, family diversity, family policy and laws, and environmental setting of homes. Each chapter examines family life across Asian countries, studying cultural similarities and differences and exploring how families are changing and what trends are likely to develop in the future. To provide a fruitful learning experience for the reader, each chapter offers examples, relevant data, and a comprehensive list of references. Offering a complete interdisciplinary overview of families in Asia, the Handbook will be of interest to students, academics, policy makers and practitioners across the disciplines of Asian Studies, Sociology, Demography, Social Work, Law, Social Policy, Anthropology, Geography, Public Health and Architecture.

The Family in Flux in Southeast Asia addresses the need to understand new trends affecting basic family structures in the region: decreases in fertility rates, aging populations, rising divorce rates, increases in female-headed households, smaller families, and increasing mobility of migrant workers. Leading scholars from disciplines including history, political science, economics, sociology, literary studies, and anthropology address topics including legal institutionalization, polygamy, national identity, gender roles, migration, and transnational marriage. They present cases of complementary, alternative, or parallel developments form Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The authors provide a critical look at how notions of the family are negotiated amidst worries over the family's disintegration in the face of globalizing trends and increasing mobility, and how it is affected by increasing flows in the globalizing world.

The demographic future of Asia is a global issue. As the biggest driver of population growth, an understanding of patterns and trends in fertility throughout Asia is critical to understand our shared demographic future. This is the first book to comprehensively and systematically analyse fertility across the continent through the perspective of individuals themselves rather than as a consequence of top-down government policies.

Care Relations in Southeast Asia: The Family and Beyond, edited by Patcharawalai Wongboonsin and Jo-Pei Tan, examines the care relations and transactions within and beyond the family network across three middle-income Southeast Asian countries, namely the Federation of Malaysia, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at the national and sub-national level. On the national level, changes and continuity in care relations along the changing demographic, socio-economic and political contexts of each country are addressed. On the sub-national level, the complex dimensions of care relations are analyzed by looking at the attitude towards and practice of elderly and child care within, between and beyond the family system. These regional analyses are based on merged data of three most recent family surveys in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok Metropolis, and Hanoi. Alternative and innovative policy recommendations for current and future challenges are also offered. Contains contributions by: Asmidawati Ashari, Ki Soo Eun, Tengku Aizan Hamid, Rahimah Ibrahim, Thuttai Keeratipongpaiboon, Nguyen Huu Minh, Pataporn Sukontamarn, Jo-Pei Tan, Tran Thi Minh Thi, Kua Wongboonsin and Patcharawalai Wongboonsin

This is a collection of essays by one of the leading scholars of Chinese history, it explores features of the Chinese family, gender and kinship systems and places them in a historical context.

The institution of the family is by far the most important of all the societal networks in which the lives of men, women and children are involved. Nowhere is this more true than in the less developed countries of Asia. Originally published in 1979, The Family in Asia aimed to provide a series of comprehensive survey chapters which described traditional family patterns in a selection of Asian countries at different stages of economic development. These range from a rapidly expanding and highly developed industrial nation, Japan, through modernising and developing countries, India, Pakistan, Iran, China, South Korea and the Philippines, to more underdeveloped countries, such as Thailand and Afghanistan. Each chapter is written by a senior country specialist and covers an integrated series of topics within a uniform framework in order to facilitate inter-country comparisons. Valuable description and statistical material is provided on the literature and on the effects of industrialisation, urbanisation and modernisation, but perhaps more important is a theoretical framework and the editors’ review of some basic characteristics of social modernisation. These include the degree of equalitarian family relations and sexual divisions in society; emphasis on individualism and independence; the differentiation and specialised functioning of social institutions; urban life; birth control and family planning; social mobility; marital disruption and divorce; neglect and care of the elderly; formal education for children; and government intervention and influence on family activities. Read in its historical context, this title will interest specialists in development and Asian studies, in demography, sociology and in anthropology. Students in particular, will value the tight analytical framework in which the book has been written.