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which they are linked by kinship and through marriage. Conditions are such today that the bonds may be slackened: if land ceases to be the primary economic resource it will no longer tie sons to their parents, and we must expect to find a number of elderly people, widows (for simple demographic reasons) especially, who are not being supported; if new industrial work opportunities are being created there must be a pressure for both men and women to assert their independence. Whatever its tradition, the Chinese family is no more exempt from the effects of modern changes than any other kind of family, and if in traditional times Confucian ethics were only a moderately successful counterbalance to family disruption, they have now considerably less chance of being effective.
98. Contemporary changes are reflected in marriage. The ages at which people marry are affected by economic opportunities for the unmarried. (Cf. Mr. Barnett's remarks on the topic in the Census, vol. II, p. LXVI). Marriage was once a 'political' act, for it involved a transaction not only between two families but also between two large kinship groups, and the general relations between communities were reflected in the marriage exchanges between them. An individual marriage was part of a wide strategy. When people no longer feel themselves engrossed by their communities and able, on the basis of their economic independence, to make their own decisions, marriage becomes more a matter of relatively free choice. Is it then more or less stable? The problem is not as simple as it looks, for the definition of stability is in question. Traditional marriage was more stable because the emotional demands made were not high and a union was allowed to continue when the husband and wife might not have had much to do with each other for years. But marriage by ‘free choice' raises expectations of conjugal harmony, and if on the one hand the disappointment of these expectations makes a marriage unstable by leading to a breach, on the other hand the new ideals promote a greater degree of stability in the sense that they encourage people to live in more intimate and continuous relationships. What problems arise, then, when men spend years away from home? The older conception of marriage meets the situation; the newer does not. And it would be important to find out what strains are being set up as a result. A traditional wife would not be considered to have been abandoned by a husband she had not seen for many years provided he maintained her; a 'modern' wife has other ideas. And as traditional village life con-
258
MAURICE FREEDMAN
which they are linked by kinship and through marriage. Conditions are such today that the bonds may be slackened: if land ceases to be the primary economic resource it will no longer tie sons to their parents, and we must expect to find a number of elderly people, widows (for simple demographic reasons) especially, who are not being supported; if new industrial work opportunities are being created there must be a pressure for both men and women to assert their independence. Whatever its tradition, the Chinese family is no more exempt from the effects of modern changes than any other kind of family, and if in traditional times Confucian ethics were only a moderately successful counterbalance to family disrup- tion, they have now considerably less chance of being effective.
98. Contemporary changes are reflected in marriage. The ages at which people marry are affected by economic opportunities for the unmarried. (Cf. Mr. Barnett's remarks on the topic in the Census, vol. II, p. LXVI). Marriage was once a 'political' act, for it invol- ved a transaction not only between two families but also between two large kinship groups, and the general relations between com- munities were reflected in the marriage exchanges between them. An individual marriage was part of a wide strategy. When people no longer feel themselves engrossed by their communities and able, on the basis of their economic independence, to make their own decisions, marriage becomes more a matter of relatively free choice. Is it then more or less stable? The problem is not as simple as it looks, for the definition of stability is in question. Traditional marriage was more stable because the emotional demands made were not high and a union was allowed to continue when the hus- band and wife might not have had much to do with each other for years. But marriage by ‘free choice' raises expectations of conjugal harmony, and if on the one hand the disappointment of these ex- pectations makes a marriage unstable by leading to a breach, on the other hand the new ideals promote a greater degree of stability in the sense that they encourage people to live in more intimate and continuous relationships. What problems arise, then, when men spend years away from home? The older conception of marriage meets the situation; the newer does not. And it would be important to find out what strains are being set up as a result. A traditional wife would not be considered to have been abandoned by a husband she had not seen for many years provided he maintained her; a 'modern' wife has other ideas. And as traditional village life con-
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