中国城市居民的童年生活与儿童价值变迁:来自三代人的缩影  

Childhood and the Changing Value of Children in Urban China: A Three-generational Portrait

作　　者：刘捷玉 王国辉 Liu Jieyu;Wang Guohui(School of Oriental and African Studies,University of London;School of Politics and Public Administration,Tianjin Normal University)

机构地区：[1]英国伦敦大学亚非学院 [2]天津师范大学政治与行政学院

出　　处：《开放时代》2024年第4期184-197,M0008,M0009,共16页Open Times

基　　金：欧盟理事会社会科学基金项目“华人家庭生活变迁的多地研究”的阶段性研究成果。

摘　　要：本文考察20世纪以来中国城市居民的童年经历在政治、经济与社会转型的大背景下如何发生变迁。基于95份在三个中国城市收集的口述史材料,文章探讨了三代中国城市家庭中儿童价值延续与变迁背后的性质、起因和影响,并对扎根于西方社会发展经验的家庭现代化和儿童价值理论提出质疑。此外,还分析了三代人童年经历的性别差异,以及计划生育政策怎样提升了女孩在城市家庭中的地位和价值。中国的经验显示,儿童价值的变化不是线性发展的:一方面,儿童作为家庭帮工的经济价值随着代际变迁急剧下降;另一方面,儿童作为父母养老依靠的经济价值与儿童的情感价值似乎并行不悖,受到中国孝道传统、社会保障水平与人口结构的共同形塑。与当代中国儿童发展趋于个体化的观点不同,本文认为中国独生子女代正经历着由父母直接操办,背后被市场和国家力量所驱动的日益趋同化的童年。This article examines how the experience of childhood has changed in urban China against the backdrop of the political, social and economic transformations in the 20th century. Drawing on 95 life history interviews in three urban cities in China, we explore the nature, origins and impact of continuities and changes in childhood experiences across three generations. While expressive intimacy between the only-child generation and their parents has increased, the three-generational comparison disputes previous theorizing about the modernization of childhood and the value of children based upon Euro-American empirical reality. Rather than being trapped in a linear progression model, this article reveals that while the economic value of children as family helpers has dramatically reduced across three generations, the economic prospect of children as old age security goes hand in hand with the emotional value of children, which is shaped by the cultural tradition of filial piety,social welfare context and demographic structure. As a consequence, in contrast with the existing argument of an individualization of childhood in China, this article indicates that the youngest generation-the only-child generation-experienced an increasing regimentalization of childhood, exercised by their parents and driven by both the neoliberal market and post-socialist state forces. This article also draws attention to the gender difference in childhood experience across three generations and reveals how the one-child policy has contributed to the increasing value of girls in urban China.

关 键 词：童年 性别 代 生活史访谈 儿童价值 

分 类 号：C913.5[经济管理]