"Bride Price":A Study On The Intergenerational Relations Of The Three Generations

Family intergenerational relations has always been an important part of sociological research.In this paper,the "bride price" as the starting point,through the field investigation of Chencun in Hebei Province,around the three generations of Chen family encounter on the story of joys and sorrows to explore family intergenerational relations under social changes.Based on the theory of functionalism,this paper describes the changes of the bride price of the three generations of Chen family through the "storytelling",and the change of bride price reflects the intergenerational relationship of family under social change.First of all,through the "storytelling" way to describe the three generations of Chen from 1960 to today,up to 60 years time span of different bride price,from "no bride price" to "high bride price",from "flow to her family" to "flow to small family".Secondly,the functional analysis of the bride price reveals that "bride price" has the cohesive function,restraining function,remedial function and exploitation,and it can be seen that the role of bride price on family intergenerational relationship has changed with social change.Then,around the relationship between the bride price changes under the family intergenerational relations and what kind of changes will be discussed.From the authority of the father to the younger generation of authority,respect for the young and old to pay attention to young people,do not attach importance to the elderly,the mother-in-law authority to daughter-in-law status risethree aspects.Finally,the reasons for the change of family intergenerational relationship are explained from the family structure,local consensus and educational level.