The erosion of filial piety by modernisation in Chinese cities

Abstract

Whether filial piety or financial support to older parents is eroded or maintained through societal modernisation is an unresolved issue in China and a matter of widespread concern. Whereas structural-functionalist theories predict erosion, alternative views suggest that modernisation reduces filial piety only minimally or conditionally. One possible condition that resists the modernisation effect is education. The impacts of modernisation and its interaction with Chinese education are therefore the focus of this study. Using various sources, the paper reports analyses of the relationships between the levels of modernisation in six Chinese cities, measured by average gross domestic product per capita, the average wage and the percentage of the workforce that are employed in the service sector, and variations in expressions of filial piety and cash payments to parents. Representative samples of the cities' adult residents were used. It was found that filial piety and cash payments were lower when the citizen was in a city with higher or more advanced modernisation, and that the reduction in affirmations of filial piety associated with higher modernisation was less among citizens with higher education. It is concluded that educational policy and practice can be a means to sustain filial piety in the face of modernisation.

Living space and psychological well-being in urban China: Differentiated relationships across socio-economic gradients

“…This subjective and variegated dimension of housing expectations is important because the uneven spread of social change in China may have created divergent cultural preferences regarding housing (Cheung and Kwan, 2009;Yan, 2009). Furthermore, the uneven distribution of socio-economic resources across families and communities may have generated differentiated consumption expectations and constraints (Huang and Li, 2014;Wang and Li, 2004).…”

“…On the other hand, people who are less well-off are less affected by the rhetoric of individualization (Yan, 2009) and more often retain a traditional cultural preference for collective living arrangements and multigenerational co-residence (Cheung and Kwan, 2009). …”

“…A rising tide of individualization has been accompanied by a shift from multigenerational co-residence to the nuclear family model (Cheung and Kwan, 2009;Yan, 2009). Moreover, as China's economic reforms exposed urban and coastal areas to the influence of Western culture, individual space and personal privacy have become more respected, while the influence of collectivism and familism has declined (Yan, 2009).…”

“…In post-reform urban China, collective socialist ideals and patrilocal traditions are in decline (Cheung and Kwan, 2009;Hu, 2016), while individualism is rapidly rising (Yan, 2009). This may have weakened the cultural preference for collective living arrangements and extended family coresidence-most notably among the urban affluent (Hu, 2016)-thus propelling increased demands for personal space.…”

Older adults as caregivers in Hong Kong

“…Most of these studies examine the value and practice of filial piety among adults in caring for their parents (see e.g. Ng et al 2002, Chow 2004, Lee and Kwok 2005a, 2005b, Cheung and Kwan 2009). According to traditional Chinese culture, having filial children was a 'pre-requisite to ageing well' (Chong et al 2006, p. 261).…”