NORMA
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2019, Pages 168-182

Young rural–urban migrant fathers in China: everyday ‘China Dream’ and the negotiation of masculinity (Article)

Lin X.*
  • a Department of Sociology, University of York, York, United Kingdom

Abstract

Drawing upon a study on rural–urban migrant young men at a delivery company in a southern Chinese city, I examine how they make sense of their private life as fathers. Situated within the pervasive national discourse of the ‘China Dream’ in which individual aspiration for a better life is advocated in line with the prosperity of the nation marked by neoliberal modernization, the paper seeks to understand how the marginalized urban working-class young men make sense of their subjectivities through a gender lens. In particular, I investigate the process of masculine identification in the young migrant fathers’ narratives. It highlights the way the young men negotiate ordinary masculine ideals and familial practices of modern fatherhood, desiring a better future for the next generation. I explore how they navigate through the constraints of material inequalities (i.e. as urban working class) and the tension with their gender responsibilities/expectations within a wider familial context, in making sense of their gender subjectivities. © 2019, © 2019 The Nordic Association for Research on Men and Masculinities.

Author Keywords

Fatherhood Masculinity China Dream Rural–urban migration

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85060893948&doi=10.1080%2f18902138.2019.1574140&partnerID=40&md5=77cbb58f71703499db8bfff4e271b7a0

DOI: 10.1080/18902138.2019.1574140
ISSN: 18902138
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English