Negotiating the filial self

Abstract

This article explores how a group of first–generation young–adult only–children negotiate the filial self in the specific socio–cultural context of today's China and with their cultural baggage as only–children. The article draws upon in–depth interviews with 22 young adults, both women and men from various backgrounds. In their narratives, the young people unanimously indicated an imperativeness to be dutiful to their parents in old age. They offered both normative and practical explanations for such a ‘choice’. However, the construction of the filial self, and their overall meaning–making in relation to their parents, is done not without negotiation between the individual self and the collective–familial entity, which is embedded in the specific socio–cultural context of today's China. The construction of the filial self in relation to the collective–familial is meanwhile heavily framed by one's only–child status, often in interaction with one's family's economic condition. It further shows that due to their singleton status, the women only–children have become ‘substitute sons’ who are to assume the filial duty traditionally prescribed for sons.