Literature Review on Shifting Fatherhood
Abstract
This study aims to review
what extent have the attitudes and practices on fatherhood changed in different
countries and how these changes are explained. Firstly, a comprehensive review of fatherhood study is given. Following this, the dynamic changes of fatherhood and its causes in 4 countries, i.e., Sweden, America, Japan and China are elaborated. Lastly, this article is concluded with four main points: a) Both Sweden and America are Western
welfare states with strong academics and public calling on gender
equality and new fatherhood. However, Sweden is much more father-friendly than
America; b) Although China and Japan share an East Asian
‘Confucian’ cultural heritage, they are on different paths
in terms of shifting
fatherhood; c) Even though these four countries all have
experienced periods of industrialization, modernization, urbanization and
postmodern globalization, gender equality and new fatherhood ideologies and
values have a much more profound influence on fathering in
Sweden and
American than that in China and Japan; d) These four models reflect four
different aspects: Swedish fatherhood - father-friendly model challenges
mainstream thinking on Americanization, while American fatherhood - Second-mother
model reveals the inherent traditional social expectation that men should give
priority to the work; In contrast, Japanese fatherhood - struggling model
testifies the fluctuation of transformational fatherhood path,
whilst Chinese
fatherhood - women-headed model shapes a new egalitarian gender order rather
than discourse of conservatism in the family life.
Keywords
References
- Abbott, D. A., Ming, Z. F., & Meredith, W. H. (1992). An evolving redefinition of the fatherhood role in the People's Republic of China. International Journal of Sociology of the family, 45-54.
- Baştuğ, S. (2002). Household and family in Turkey: An historical perspective. Autonomy and dependence in the family: Turkey and Sweden in critical perspective, 99-116.
- Becker, G. S. (2013). The economic approach to human behavior. University of Chicago press.
- Bernhardt, E., Goldscheider, F., & Turunen, J. (2016). Attitudes to the gender division of labor and the transition to fatherhood Are egalitarian men in Sweden more likely to remain childless?. Acta Sociologica, 59(3), 269–284.
- Beşpınar, F. U. (2015). Between ideals and enactments: The experience of ‘New Fatherhood’ among middle-class men in Turkey. Gender and Sexuality in Muslim Cultures, Ed. Gül Özyeğin, Ashgate, 95-114.
- Bianchi, S. M., Milkie, M. A., Sayer, L. C., & Robinson, J. P. (2000). Is anyone doing the housework? Trends in the gender division of household labor. Social forces, 79(1), 191-228.
- Castles, F.G., Leibfried, S., Lewis, J., Obinger, H. and Pierson, C. (2010) The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Cheal, D. (2008). Families in today's world: a comparative approach. Routledge.
Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Sociology
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Tingting Tan
This is me
Kyushu University
Publication Date
August 22, 2017
Submission Date
August 4, 2017
Acceptance Date
-
Published in Issue
Year 1970 Number: 6