中国城乡社会家庭结构与功能的变迁
The Changes of the structures and functions of Chinese
Families
在上个世纪70年代中期开始实施的计划生育政策,以及工业化、城市化和现代化进程的双重推进下,近年来,中国城乡社会的家庭结构和家庭婚姻制度发生了巨大而深刻的变化:
Under the promotion of both the introduction of Birth Control Policies in mid-1970s, and the process of industrialization, urbanization and modernization, the household functions and the marriage system in Chinese society have been undergoing dramatic changes in recent years.
传统的大家庭模式越来越多地被以核心家庭为主的多样化的小家庭模式所取代;
Traditional extended families have been increasingly replaced by various small household patterns, especially
nuclear families.
与此相一致的是,以父辈为权威的大家庭越来越多地让位于以子女,特别是独生子女为中心的小家庭制度
Correspondingly, big families with the elder as authorities are giving place to smaller families with children, especially the only children, as the centers.
人口老龄化进程的加速与家庭制度的演变,使得养老问题的严峻性愈加凸现;
The changes of family patterns, along with the acceleration of population aging in the country, make the provision of the elder a severe problem.
传统的婚姻观念正在经受着现代价值观念和生活方式的冲击,结婚率、生育率下滑，和离婚率上升,使得婚姻制度的重要性在下降。
Traditional values on marriage are under the impact of modern values and life styles. The importance of marriage is decreasing due to the decline of marriage rate and birth rate, and the rising of divorce rate.
一般来说,家庭有五种基本功能:生产功能、消费功能、人口再生产功能、养育子女和赡养老人的功能、满足家庭成员生理和心理需要的功能。
Generally, families have 5 basic functions, namely production, consumption, reproduction, provision for the young and elderly, satisfaction of the physical and mental needs of members.
在今天,社会化大生产和市场经济下的专业化分工,以及家庭结构和家庭制度的变迁,已经使得家庭的许多基本社会功能出现萎缩或被取代:
Today, some basic social functions of families have been weakened and even replaced due to mass
production and the specialization of production in market economy, as well as the changes in family structures and family patterns.
社会化大生产在城市中已基本取代了家庭的生产功能,家庭在很大程度上已不再是组织生产的基本单位;
Families are no longer the basic unit of social production, since mass production has already taken the place of the family function of production.
各式各样的教育机构大量出现,在很大程度上将家庭抚养和教育子女方面的责任转移至社会和市场,
The emergence of various educational institutions greatly transfers the duty of raising and teaching children
to the society and market.
单身和“丁克”家庭的逐渐扩大,未婚同居现象的大量出现, 表明家庭人口再生产的基本社会功能在一定程度上已被年轻一代所忽视;
The increase of one-person families and DINK families, and the emergence of cohabitation indicate the family function of reproduction has been neglected by the young generations.
核心家庭在很大程度上削弱甚至割裂了传统的大家庭中老人与子女的日常感情与责任链条;
Nuclear families undermine and even hinder the family bonds and responsibilities existing in the traditional big families.
大众传媒和各种娱乐设施,极大的转移和丰富了人们的生活内容,人们已经不再主要以家庭为唯一娱乐的场所。
Mass media and various recreation facilities greatly distract people and enrich their lives, so that families are no longer the only place to enjoy themselves.
服务经济的发展也使家务劳动大大减少
And the development of service industry greatly decreases the amount of house work.
总之,一方面家庭生活日益与整个社会融为一体,另一方面,人们传统的家庭责任意识也在淡化
To sum up, on one hand, family life in China is increasingly fusing into the society; on the other hand, people’s sense of responsibility in traditional families has been fading.
社会发展的基本趋向是,公众更乐于社会越来越多地分担家庭的功能,而不是相反。
The basic trend of social development is that people are content to share family functions with the whole society, not the other way around.
这种家庭婚姻功能的衰落,与西方一些国家上个世纪七、八十年代的社会状况有某种类似之处. 在追求经济发展、科技进步的物质文明过程中,人们付出了巨大的社会精神和心理上的代价,包括家庭.
The decline of the functions of family resembles what happened in western countries in 1970s to 1980s. When pursuing the advance of economy and technologies, people pay high costs, both social and mental, including families.
家庭制度的演变给这些国家带来了一系列社会问题, 如高离婚率、低结婚率、少年母亲、单亲家庭、艾滋病等大量出现。
其中许多至今尚未能治愈。
The changes of family patterns have brought series of social problems, such as high divorce rate, low marriage rate, teenage mothers, one-parent families and AIDS, some of which are still haunting.。