Our changing family : a study on family beliefs and practices

This research aims to show that individuals are human actors who have agency in shaping their family lives through the various strategies they adopt vis-à-vis social structures. Specifically, the research examines the ideas and experiences that individuals have concerning the upbringing of children,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Peh, Rebecca Min-Li
Other Authors: Xiao Hong
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66168
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author Peh, Rebecca Min-Li
author2 Xiao Hong
author_facet Xiao Hong
Peh, Rebecca Min-Li
author_sort Peh, Rebecca Min-Li
collection NTU
description This research aims to show that individuals are human actors who have agency in shaping their family lives through the various strategies they adopt vis-à-vis social structures. Specifically, the research examines the ideas and experiences that individuals have concerning the upbringing of children, gendered family arrangements and work-life balance. Using the theoretical framework of agency and structure, the study seeks to address the scarcity of qualitative research on the contemporary Singaporean family. Through in-depth interviews with middle-aged respondents in Singapore, the findings demonstrate how individuals hold the capacity to act and react to the changing social environment amidst the expectations thrust upon them. Instead of a total compliance to state ideals and social structures, the respondents expressed how they negotiate the demands of work and family. Exposed to both traditional and modern cultural imperatives, middle-aged individuals adapt to their contemporary surroundings by amalgamating both the old and the new in the creation of nuanced family strategies and beliefs. Thus the family is a site brimming with subjective experiences and meanings that arise through the interplay between individual autonomy and structural conditions.
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spelling ntu-10356/661682019-12-10T12:32:15Z Our changing family : a study on family beliefs and practices Peh, Rebecca Min-Li Xiao Hong School of Humanities and Social Sciences DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology::Family, marriage and women This research aims to show that individuals are human actors who have agency in shaping their family lives through the various strategies they adopt vis-à-vis social structures. Specifically, the research examines the ideas and experiences that individuals have concerning the upbringing of children, gendered family arrangements and work-life balance. Using the theoretical framework of agency and structure, the study seeks to address the scarcity of qualitative research on the contemporary Singaporean family. Through in-depth interviews with middle-aged respondents in Singapore, the findings demonstrate how individuals hold the capacity to act and react to the changing social environment amidst the expectations thrust upon them. Instead of a total compliance to state ideals and social structures, the respondents expressed how they negotiate the demands of work and family. Exposed to both traditional and modern cultural imperatives, middle-aged individuals adapt to their contemporary surroundings by amalgamating both the old and the new in the creation of nuanced family strategies and beliefs. Thus the family is a site brimming with subjective experiences and meanings that arise through the interplay between individual autonomy and structural conditions. Bachelor of Arts 2016-03-14T03:56:40Z 2016-03-14T03:56:40Z 2016 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66168 en Nanyang Technological University 35 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology::Family, marriage and women
Peh, Rebecca Min-Li
Our changing family : a study on family beliefs and practices
title Our changing family : a study on family beliefs and practices
title_full Our changing family : a study on family beliefs and practices
title_fullStr Our changing family : a study on family beliefs and practices
title_full_unstemmed Our changing family : a study on family beliefs and practices
title_short Our changing family : a study on family beliefs and practices
title_sort our changing family a study on family beliefs and practices
topic DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology::Family, marriage and women
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66168
work_keys_str_mv AT pehrebeccaminli ourchangingfamilyastudyonfamilybeliefsandpractices