The Impact of Urbanization on Chinese Family Organization in Taiwan

都市化對臺灣漢人家庭之影響

本文從三方面來探討都市化對臺灣漢人家庭之影響。第一是高層次家族的增多及重要性。雖然父母家戶和兒子家戶間距離有時很遠，但其聯繫非但沒有減弱，並且有增強之勢。第二婦女雖然常有工作而有自己的收入，但是地位似乎並未改善。第三由於農村的遷出率增加，在外之兒子家戶較不便參與對父母之輪流供食。因此遷出率高的鄉村，輪伙頭比例較低。

This paper discusses three aspects of the influence of urbanization on Chinese family organization in Taiwan. The first is the increasing significance of the higher-level family. The extra-domestic agnatic ties of the parents primary and sons secondary households are not breaking down but on the contrary strengthening in many respects. This is inspite of frequent geographic separation of various constituent households. The second aspect is the status of women. Women increasingly have the opportunity to earn money by working outside the home in contemporary Taiwan, Nonetheless, the status of women remains much the same. The third aspect covered in this paper is the impact of modernization on meal rotation households. Many married sons move outside of the village to pursue their careers in urban areas. One consequence is that villages with high out-migration can be expected to be much less inclined to support elderly parents by instituting meal rotation following family division.