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Marital Construction of Family Power Among Male-Out-Migrant Couples in a Chinese Village

A Relation-Oriented Exchange Model

St. Cloud State University, Minnesota, jzuo{at}stcloudstate.edu

This study examines marital construction of family power among male-out-migrant couples in a Chinese village in Guangxi Province. In-depth interviews show that male-out-migrant couples prefer joint decision making. When couples are in disputes, power tends to go to the ones who shoulder greater household-based responsibilities; in this case, they are mainly married women. The couples achieve power—responsibility congruence by following relation-oriented exchange, which emphasizes spouses' obligations to the family and relational harmony, as opposed to equity-oriented exchange, which stresses the importance of comparative resources in one's ability to wield power. Consequently, family power among male-out-migrant couples is group serving and enhances marital harmony. However, married women's greater family power constrains as well as empowers them precisely because of the power—responsibility congruence. The unique power processes generated from relation-oriented exchange observed in this study are attributable to ecological and institutional constraints facing the village couples.

Key Words: family power • male-out-migrant couples • relation-oriented exchange • equal obligations • China

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