| Abstrakt: |
In urban China, the demise of the employment-based welfare system dovetails with the commoditization of service provision and the state-led promotion of ‘family values’. Disadvantaged labourers invest most of their resources in their children, who are expected to become their future ‘insurance’. Notwithstanding their emotional and material investment in the upbringing of daughters, informants recast the birth of sons as a sign of success and continuity within wider care relationships. As these ambiguous relationships develop in the context of pervading insecurity, the birth of a son constitutes a definitive sign of a well-managed destiny. While this repertoire evokes the narrative of traditional familialism, it feeds into state and market-sponsored policies that foster self-reliance, reinstating the family as the primary site of care provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
