Gender And Family Structure, And The Effect Of Culture On The Quality Of Family Interactions

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DATA ANALYSIS and FINDINGS Several important themes emerged through this study. These themes are gender and family roles, family structure, and the effect of culture on the quality of family interactions. They will be discussed in the follow pages. Roles Roles explain what expectations are assigned to it (White 1994:75). People can fulfill multiple roles, picking and choosing which ones they want to play. White (1994) suggests that “one could say the person makes the role and the role makes a person” (75). This shows the signficance roles play in identity formation. In the interviews, participants expressed that they felt pressured to fulfill roles by family members. However, the participants picked which roles thye want to play. Family roles Gender and family roles play an important part in identity formation. An individual’s perception of family roles and occupations, which are both influenced by gender, can affect the development of her identity (Farkas and Leaper 2015: 221). The research participants in this study expressed little concern about their roles in the family but when it came to gender roles, they show some deviance. This shows that family plays a signficant role in individuals maintaining roles and expectations that benefit the family. The interviewees, all daughters in this case, are expected to be loyal to the family. Amanda expressed that she pressured herself …show more content…

Filial piety, a Confucian belief, describes the relationship and duties of each family member in relation to others: “these values emphasize solidarity, hierarchal relations, and filial piety” (Pyke 2000:243). However, there exists differences in the participant 's’ understanding of this power structure. With extended family, participants see clear indications of the power dynamics whereas within the immediate family, participants struggle with identifying a sole source of power. Extended

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