Kristina Göransson
Deputy Head of Department | Director of Doctoral Studies | Senior Lecturer | PhD in Social Anthropology | Associate Professor
The Binding Tie: Chinese Intergenerational Relations in Modern Singapore
Author
Summary, in English
The family remains a pivotal feature of Singaporean society and the primary unit of support. The author focuses on the middle generation, caught between elderly parents who grew up speaking dialect and their own children who speak English and Mandarin. In analyzing the forces that bind these generations together, she deploys the idea of an intergenerational “contract,” which serves as a metaphor for customary obligations and expectations. She convincingly examines the many different levels at which the contract operates within Singaporean families and offers striking examples of the meaningful ways in which intergenerational support and transactions are performed, resisted, and renegotiated. Her rich material, drawn from ethnographic fieldwork among middle-class Chinese, provides insights into the complex interplay of fragmenting and integrating forces.
The Binding Tie makes a critical contribution to the study of intergenerational relations in modern, rapidly changing societies and conveys a vivid and nuanced picture of the challenges Singaporean families face in today’s hypermodern world. It will be of interest to researchers and students in a range of fields, including anthropology, sociology, Asian studies, demography, development studies, and family studies.
Department/s
- School of Social Work
Publishing year
2009
Language
English
Publication/Series
Southeast Asia: Politics, Meaning, and Memory
Document type
Book
Publisher
University of Hawai'i Press
Topic
- Social Work
Keywords
- intergenerational contract
- Intergenerational relations
- family
- social change
- Singapore
- Chinese Singaporeans
- modernization
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISBN: 978-0-8248-3352-7