Blog 7 ChinaTwo-Child Policy and Families

 Article Summary: This article explains on how China’s leader is trying to implement the Two-Child Policy to help the economy because there has been a decrease in the population. Parents in this article explained how the Two-Child Policy will benefit them as well, and how this policy will not benefit the family. For example, a mother states how she and her husband wanted two children and that it would be impossible for her to have two children. Rural families prefer to have two children. For the families in Urban China it is expensive for them to have two children, and for those in the rural area it is actually cheaper if they have more children because it is agricultural and they need more help in the farms and children would be cheap labor. A new normal gradually emerges a lot of children were undocumented so they can not get any help form the government such as free health care and education. Another topic that was mentioned was the cost of children and how expensive it would be when the Two-Child Policy comes into effect.

Article Critique: Above, the article makes a good point on how the one-child policy has affected families, but it deemphasizes several facts such as the low fertility rate and how that causes a social issue for the population. 40% of the population is aging, so who are going to take care of the elderly is a question that should be raised in this article. Moreover, the article explains how several parents are happy about this Two-Child Policy, but it does not explain how it will affect the family structure. In Chinese families they have a collective view about life/family life with two children I wonder will the rigid gender roles and family structure will change. I wonder what positive and negative impact that this policy will have on the families. As child socialization is important the article fail to explain how child socialization is an important factor to China’s economy, and how the Two Child Policy will help not only the economy but the population as well. It is safe to assume that most will agree from a sociological perspective that the Chinese children are the future economy in China and that the population is an important factor to the economy, but this was not well thought out when the one-child policy was in effect. Even though, the One Child Policy does not affect the urban area as much the economy is still being affected by the population. The One Child Policy is a social problem because China economy (GDP is high) high but the population is low. The One Child Policy came about wages and living standards went upward, but were not done in consideration on how later on in the future it was going to harm the economy. What I just mentioned is what the article failed to explain some of the issues that were child socialization (as families were trying to prepare their children for the future economy) in families were geared towards this One-Child Policy. For example, education was taken seriously as the gender gap was not a big gap between men and women. I wonder how families will adjust to the Two-Child Policy with preparing their children for the future economy/generation.

Maribel Rivera  March 22,2013 3:46PM

Article: What China’s ‘One-Child Policy’ Really Looks Like — A View from the Grassroots

http://www.tealeafnation.com/2013/03/what-chinas-one-child-policy-really-looks-like-a-view-from-the-grassroots/