From “Passports” to “Joint Ventures”: Intermarriage between Chinese Nationals and Western Expatriates Residing in Shanghai

Farrer, James

doi:10.1080/10357820701870742

Cited by 62 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Since the implementation of the open-door policy in 1978, the number of transnational marriages has grown rapidly (Farrer 2008;Hu 2016a). The burgeoning body of research on transnational marriage in China focuses predominantly on people's marital practices and migratory behaviors (e.g., Constable 2010;Farrer 2008), while no research has focused on social attitudes toward transnational marriage. As the ideational perspective is key to understanding family and demographic changes (Jayakody, Thornton, and Axinn 2012), it is pertinent to remedy the gap in existing research by explicitly examining attitudes toward transnational marriage in China.…”

Section: Examining Attitudes Toward Transnational Marriagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fourth, marriage market theorists underline the importance of opportunity structure in shaping marital orientations (Becker 1991;Kalmijn 1998). Despite a lack of national statistics on the transnational marriage market in China, existing region-specific studies indicate that the opportunity structure of transnational marriage closely mirrors the geographic patterns of international migration, global exposure, and interactions enabled by socioeconomic development and transnationalization (Farrer 2008;Hu 2016a;Nehring and Wang 2016).…”

Section: Transnational Convergencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These theories posit that individuals may conceive intermarriage with people from (more) developed countries as a means of attaining upward mobility along a symbolic gradient of development (Beck-Gernsheim 2007;Glick Schiller and Salazar 2012), and the gradient is seen to closely mirror diffuse socioeconomic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) and levels of income and human development (Veltmeyer 2008). This proactive transnational status seeking is vividly exemplified by extensive examples of global hypergamy, passport unions, and mail-order brides that usually occur in marriages between more-and less-developed countries (e.g., Constable 2010;Farrer 2008;Zare and Mendoza 2012). In China, the belief is widespread that the West -namely North America and Europe -surpasses China in terms of socioeconomic and human development (Goodman 2004).…”

Section: Transnational Distinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Building on Becker's (1991) economic treatise on the family, intermarriage is conceptualized as a rational act of status seeking. Whereas classical status-exchange theories focus on socioeconomic characteristics at an individual level (Fu 2001;Hou and Myles 2013;Kalmijn 1998), recent theoretical developments have drawn attention to the role of country-level traits in motivating the pursuit of (more) generalized and non-pecuniary symbolic mobility through transnational intermarriage (Beck-Gernsheim 2007;Constable 2010;Farrer 2008;Hu 2016a). These theories posit that individuals may conceive intermarriage with people from (more) developed countries as a means of attaining upward mobility along a symbolic gradient of development (Beck-Gernsheim 2007;Glick Schiller and Salazar 2012), and the gradient is seen to closely mirror diffuse socioeconomic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) and levels of income and human development (Veltmeyer 2008).…”

Section: Transnational Distinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, the opposite may hold true, because people may resist or resent rapid sociocultural homogenization and pursue greater distinctions across nation states. In this context, the theory of 'transnational distinction' indicates that it is the macro-level social difference rather than convergence in the levels of socioeconomic development and transnational activity between places that helps buffer the negative impact of close transnational encounters and render transnational intermarriage a desirable means of attaining symbolic mobility (Constable 2010;Farrer 2008;Hou and Myles 2013;Hu 2016a). Besides these all-encompassing macro-level developments, modern communication technologies have equipped individuals with unprecedented opportunities to personalize their transnational preferences and practices (Castells 2010;Donald, Hong, and Keane 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Attitudes toward transnational intermarriage in China: Testing three theories of transnationalization

Hu¹

2017

DemRes

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BACKGROUNDIn an increasingly interconnected world, understanding the formation of transnational orientations is of great importance. Attitudes toward transnational intermarriage tell of people's view of the transnational world and their perception of the social distance between countries and regions. OBJECTIVEThe purpose of this research is to identify the holistic formations of Chinese people's transnational orientations in relation to distinct countries and regions, and examine the individual-and province-level correlates of the distinctive profiles of transnational orientations in order to test theories of transnational convergence, transnational distinction, and individualized transnationalization. METHODSThis research draws on individual-level data from the China General Social Survey (N = 3,000) and province-level data from the China Statistics Yearbook. Latent class analysis and multilevel multinomial random-intercept models are used to analyze the data. RESULTSA fourfold typology of attitudes toward transnational intermarriage is identified, namely cosmopolitan, pro-West, pro-East Asia, and anti-transnational. The results support the theory of transnational distinction rather than transnational convergence, as macro-level difference -instead of convergence in the level of transnational activity and, particularly, socioeconomic development between countries -fosters support for intermarriage. The thesis of individualized transnationalization is also supported, as individuals' region-specific cultural consumption positively predicts their exclusive support for intermarriage with people from these regions.

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Section: Examining Attitudes Toward Transnational Marriagementioning

confidence: 99%