Friday, February 1, 2013

Blog1: China One-Child Policy and Families


Summary

China’s population working age has decreased, and it has affected family planning issues. Ma said, “he expects China’s working-age population to decrease “steadily and gradually” over a long period or “at least before 2030.” Chinese government officials are predicting fertility rates and how many people aged seven today will become fifteen in eight years’ time. Many pointed out that the one-child policy was the issue of limited amount of workers. However, the central government does not have any immediate plans. There has been a plan for two-child policy, but it has not been established. Mainly in urban areas it has been affected were one-child policy is enforced. In rural areas they are trying to make it city like for growth. China’s government is trying to build twenty cities a year in each of the next twenty years. Greene explained, “It is not clear where Beijing officials are going to the people to continue to power the farm-to-city process. Not only the major demographic trends working against them, but there is also a growing concern that rural areas have already been emptied out.”

Critique

Why is this idea of establishing a two -child policy a social issue?

These are some of the family social issues I come to question myself as a sociologist. I view this social issue to be as macro-sociology and micro-sociology. Macro-sociology would be changing the one-child policy as it human society and the lives of Chinese people. It also can be micro-sociology if it becomes urbanized the social of interaction of urban and rural people might change.

 I focused on the bigger picture of China because the one-child-policy comes from a large-scale of social forces (government) that affects the families in urban China.  For instance, allowing the parents in urban areas to have two children can be a social issue because they might have a girl. Girls are not wanted and there have been cases of abortion and infanticide. They want a boy to keep the patriarchy going. Moreover, they are in need for a working-age population, I wonder if this tradition of having a boy continues would this hinder their economic status? If the two-child policy comes would communist views on being collective change? Would parenting styles of teaching one child to obey, be self-control, interdependent, and conform to rules, change with having two children? Families are greatly impacted economically and politically by their communist leader. Since rural areas are not impacted as much with the one-child policy, would rural area families be impacted with urbanization if they build 20 cities eliminating rural areas? Rural areas are more traditional and conservative then urban areas. Unfortunately, this change may do some kind of impact on rural conservative/traditional Chinese people views, even though they all have collective views about roles played in the family. Furthermore, I wonder will the communist government give two-child policy the same advantages for parents to have: employment opportunities, higher wages, better schooling and preferential treatment in obtaining governmental assistance and loans.  I ponder if this will not happen with the two child policy because those who do have two children have to pay fines have difficulty in getting governmental assistance, and they get employment termination.  

Other insight beside my family topic on one-child policy is the global issue that would occur with their economic status. China is the world’s second largest economy and we heavily depend on their products, but if there is not enough workers than it can create a global issue.

Maribel Rivera

2/1/2013, 2:30PM


 

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment