Abstract
This review offers a joint perspective on Chinese and European key demographic trends in the family domain, emphasising the impact of macro-level social structures and institutions on individual life courses. We outline key demographic shifts across the Netherlands, Germany, the UK and China in the period after the ‘golden age of the welfare state’ in Europe and the ‘post-reform’ era in China (after the 1970s). Several empirical trends are highlighted, with a focus on: rising inequality in China and persistent inequality in Europe; the traditional family sequence in China and de-standardization of life courses in Europe; ending with similarities between countries in population aging and differences in later life courses with regards to intergenerational transfers. We draw upon a range of theoretical frameworks to argue that trends in marriage, fertility and intergenerational relationships reflect tensions between rapid social and economic changes and discuss the limitations of modernisation theories and the second demographic transition.
Highlights
Relationships change over time due to multiple factors, including norms and values on individual and societal levels, economic and political events and policy reforms
Several studies investigated whether demographic trends in China resemble those in the West and how family transitions in East Asia are related to the second demographic transition (SDT) occurring in the West (Ji, 2015; Thornton and Fricke, 1987)
Explanations for declining rates of marriage and fertility in the European countries have often referenced the SDT, but authors have been sceptical of the appropriateness of the SDT framework for understanding similar trends in China (Raymo et al, 2015)
Summary
Relationships change over time due to multiple factors, including norms and values on individual and societal levels, economic and political events and policy reforms. European demographic literature has emphasised the ways that national policies and laws shape the life courses across countries in order to explain cohort patterns (see Hagestad and Dykstra, 2016; Saraceno and Keck, 2010, 2011). Several studies investigated whether demographic trends in China resemble those in the West and how family transitions in East Asia are related to the second demographic transition (SDT) occurring in the West (Ji, 2015; Thornton and Fricke, 1987) This approach offered only limited insights into observed differences across social contexts, for several reasons. This review offers a joint perspective on China and Europe that emphasises the impact of macro-level social structures and institutions on the individual life course (Hagestad and Dykstra, 2016). The review ends with a summary of key trends, highlights gaps in current research and offers an outlook for the future of comparative demographic research
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