Full Description
The institution of the family is by far the most important of all the societal networks in which the lives of men, women and children are involved. Nowhere is this more true than in the less developed countries of Asia.
Originally published in 1979, The Family in Asia aimed to provide a series of comprehensive survey chapters which described traditional family patterns in a selection of Asian countries at different stages of economic development. These range from a rapidly expanding and highly developed industrial nation, Japan, through modernising and developing countries, India, Pakistan, Iran, China, South Korea and the Philippines, to more underdeveloped countries, such as Thailand and Afghanistan. Each chapter is written by a senior country specialist and covers an integrated series of topics within a uniform framework in order to facilitate inter-country comparisons.
Valuable description and statistical material is provided on the literature and on the effects of industrialisation, urbanisation and modernisation, but perhaps more important is a theoretical framework and the editors' review of some basic characteristics of social modernisation. These include the degree of equalitarian family relations and sexual divisions in society; emphasis on individualism and independence; the differentiation and specialised functioning of social institutions; urban life; birth control and family planning; social mobility; marital disruption and divorce; neglect and care of the elderly; formal education for children; and government intervention and influence on family activities.
Read in its historical context, this title will interest specialists in development and Asian studies, in demography, sociology and in anthropology. Students in particular, will value the tight analytical framework in which the book has been written.
Contents
Editors' Introduction 1. Asian Family and Society - A Theoretical Overview Robert J. Lazar 2. The Thai Rural Family Harold E. Smith 3. The Family in Afghanistan M. Jamil Hanifi 4. The Family in India: (i) The Joint Family Giri Raj Gupta (ii) Touchable-Untouchable Intercaste Marriage Man Singh Das (iii) Christian and Non-Christian Interreligious Marriages Man Singh Das (iv) Women in Modern India Promila Kapur (v) Abortion Attitudes Among University Students in India Panos D. Bardis 5. Modernization and Social Change - The Family in Pakistan J. Henry Korson 6. Marriage and the Family in Iran Jacquiline Rudolph-Touba 7. The Modern Chinese Family - Ideology, Revolution and Residues Aline K. Wong 8. (i) The Korean Family Dae H. Chang (ii) Modernization and Birth Control - An International Survey of Attitudes Toward Oral Contraception Panos D. Bardis 9. The Filipino Family Gloria V. Javillonar 10. The Japanese Family Minako Kurokawa Maykovich 11. Summary and Conclusions Man Singh Das and Panos D. Bardis. Index.
