Economic Resources, Cultural Matching, and the Rural-Urban Boundary in China's Marriage Market

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2286993
AutoresYun Zhou (0000-0002-3396-5867, Brown University, autor correspondente)
Ano2019
Volume81
Fascículo3
Páginas567-583
Data de publicação2019-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Marriage and the Family (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-2445 • E-ISSN: 1741-3737
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jomf.12559
PMID31762492
OpenAlexW2919039503
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas20
Referências citadas61

Objective: This article investigates marital sorting by household registration status (hukou) and education in contemporary urban China, paying special attention to individuals who have achieved rural-to-urban hukou mobility before marriage.Background: Existing theoretical frameworks of assortative mating have highlighted economic resources and cultural matching as two key dimensions. These two frameworks place a different emphasis on individuals' achieved versus ascriptive characteristics and hold different implications for understanding the link between marital sorting patterns and social openness or closure. With a focus on hukou converters, this study examines the relative importance of achieved versus ascriptive traits in China's marriage market and contributes to the evaluation of the two frameworks.Method: This study adopts a mixed-methods approach. The quantitative analysis uses the harmonic mean marriage function to analyze the nationally representative 2006 China General Social Survey. The qualitative data consist of 115 in-depth interviews collected in two Chinese metropolitan areas between 2016 and 2017.Results: Quantitative results showed that hukou converters and urban-born individuals had the highest propensity of marrying a spouse of the same hukou trajectory. Qualitative results further revealed the gap between converters and their urban-born peers to be hierarchical. Although both groups emphasized the importance of shared values and habitus in evaluating prospective partners, urban-born individuals regarded hukou converters as a culturally distinct and less desirable option.Conclusion: The findings highlight the power of cultural matching in China's urban marriage market. Hukou converters' rural origin remains visible and acts as a source of lasting symbolic distinction despite adulthood status attainment

Boundary (topology · China · Economic geography · Economics · Geography · Labour economics · Marriage market · Matching (statistics · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving