Symbolic Interaction Understanding Sheng Nu ("Leftover Women"):the Phenomenon of Late Marriage among Chinese Professional Women Sandy To University of Hong Kong In the past few decades,there has been a rise in the number of sin- gle,unmarried Chinese professional women,which is known as the sheng nu or"leftover women"phenomenon.Through an interaction- ist grounded theory method,this study has located the interactional constraints faced by 50 single Chinese professional women that were issued by their male romantic partners and parents,respectively."Dis- criminatory"and "controlling"gendered constraints issued by the women's male suitors and partners reflected the persistence of the Chinese patriarchal structure,and this was found to be the leading cause of the women being "leftover"in the marriage market.Parents' traditional views continued to exert strong influences on the women's marital choices,but this was seen to conflict with their more "modern" views toward advocating and supporting the women's strong economic achievements.The four different types of Chinese professional women that were constructed based on their different partner choice strategies not only gave rise to an in-depth and nuanced understanding of the sheng nu phenomenon in China,but could also be generalized toward understanding the marital choices of single professional women in other patriarchal societies who faced similar dilemmas in reconciling interactional constraints imposed by men and parents alike. Video Abstract. Keywords:Chinese professional women,sheng nu("leftover women"), late marriage,interactionist grounded theory method,patriarchy,part- ner choice constraints and strategies,male superior norms,traditional gender roles,nontraditional relationship forms,parental influences, matchmaking,individualization Increasing numbers of single,unmarried Chinese women in affluent Chinese cities such as Shanghai has given rise to the phenomenon of sheng nu or"leftover women." While this phenomenon of career women marrying later is also found in affluent Direct all correspondence to Sandy To,Department of Sociology,Room 928,9/F,The Jockey Club Tower,Centennial Campus,The University of Hong Kong,Pokfulam Road,Hong Kong;e-mail: sandyscto@hku.hk Symbolic Interaction,Vol.36,Issue 1,pp.1-20,ISSN:0195-6086 print/1533-8665 online. 2013 Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.All rights reserved. DO:10.1002/SYMB.46
Understanding Sheng Nu (‘‘Leftover Women’’): the Phenomenon of Late Marriage among Chinese Professional Women Sandy To University of Hong Kong In the past few decades, there has been a rise in the number of single, unmarried Chinese professional women, which is known as the sheng nu or ‘‘leftover women’’ phenomenon. Through an interactionist grounded theory method, this study has located the interactional constraints faced by 50 single Chinese professional women that were issued by their male romantic partners and parents, respectively. ‘‘Discriminatory’’ and ‘‘controlling’’ gendered constraints issued by the women’s male suitors and partners reflected the persistence of the Chinese patriarchal structure, and this was found to be the leading cause of the women being ‘‘leftover’’ in the marriage market. Parents’ traditional views continued to exert strong influences on the women’s marital choices, but this was seen to conflict with their more ‘‘modern’’ views toward advocating and supporting the women’s strong economic achievements. The four different types of Chinese professional women that were constructed based on their different partner choice strategies not only gave rise to an in-depth and nuanced understanding of the sheng nu phenomenon in China, but could also be generalized toward understanding the marital choices of single professional women in other patriarchal societies who faced similar dilemmas in reconciling interactional constraints imposed by men and parents alike. Video Abstract. Keywords: Chinese professional women, sheng nu (‘‘leftover women’’), late marriage, interactionist grounded theory method, patriarchy, partner choice constraints and strategies, male superior norms, traditional gender roles, nontraditional relationship forms, parental influences, matchmaking, individualization Increasing numbers of single, unmarried Chinese women in affluent Chinese cities such as Shanghai has given rise to the phenomenon ofsheng nu or ‘‘leftover women.’’ While this phenomenon of career women marrying later is also found in affluent Direct all correspondence to Sandy To, Department of Sociology, Room 928, 9/F, The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong; e-mail: sandyscto@hku.hk Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 36, Issue 1, pp. 1–20, ISSN: 0195-6086 print/1533-8665 online. © 2013 Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1002/SYMB.46
2 Symbolic Interaction Volume 36,Number 1,2013 Western societies,there appear to be a wider variety of interpretations which encompass both the positive and the negative.The more positive interpretations of Western women's late marriage usually take reference either explicitly or implicitly from"individualization,"which is a sociological concept developed by Western European sociologists Anthony Giddens (1992)and Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim (2002)to explicate and theorize highly educated professional women's proactive assertion of individual agency in intimate life,which gives rise to a transformation of the intimate landscape of late modern societies,for instance, later marriages for both sexes and more instances of nontraditional relationship forms that are outside the traditional marriage model.According to Giddens(1992) and Beck and Beck-Gernsheim(2002),this signifies an empowerment of women as they now have more freedom to make more informed relationship choices,which may or may not include marriage;in other words,women who are highly educated or have high professional status but are not married are not stigmatized,but are perceived as independent and liberated. On the other hand,in the Mainland Chinese media,highly educated career women of marriageable age who are unmarried have been coined derogatorily as sheng nu or"leftover women.'The Chinese Ministry of Education (2007)attributes the unmarried status of these women to their own"overly high expectations for marriage partners,"implying that they are the ones to blame for their own competence and independence.This is extremely telling of the patriarchal culture of Chinese society, which still advocates the "male-as-superior"'pattern of marriage partner choice, rendering competent women to be discriminated against in the marriage market. Moreover,the patriarchal culture also lacks any positive concepts for describing independent career women who do not fit into traditional domestic roles.In other words,marriage is still a"must"'for Chinese women,and as a result,there has been a proliferation of nation-wide matchmaking reality shows and matchmaking events across public parks in almost every mainland Chinese city where parents advertise their daughters'physical and economic attributes on billboards in the hopes of getting them married off as soon as possible (Yang 2011). This contrast between the scorned sheng nu or"leftover women"in Mainland China and the"individualized"or liberated women found in the Western world and promoted in Giddens'and Becks'sociological theory is an interesting one that is worth investigating.Furthermore,there has been a paucity of academic studies that seriously investigate the phenomenon of urban Chinese professional women's late marriage by an in-depth and exhaustive exploration of the women's own perspectives regarding their marital situation,for instance,do they want to get married or stay single?Do they encounter any constraints in their quest for marriage?What types of partners are they looking for?As for the extremely few qualitative studies that do broach the topic of single Chinese managerial and professional women's relationship landscapes and marital choices (Korabik 1993;Ng and Ng 2009),they are found to offer only descriptive accounts and not an overall theory that could provide a more conceptually sophisticated understanding of single,professional women's marital
2 Symbolic Interaction Volume 36, Number 1, 2013 Western societies, there appear to be a wider variety of interpretations which encompass both the positive and the negative. The more positive interpretations of Western women’s late marriage usually take reference either explicitly or implicitly from ‘‘individualization,’’ which is a sociological concept developed by Western European sociologists Anthony Giddens (1992) and Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim (2002) to explicate and theorize highly educated professional women’s proactive assertion of individual agency in intimate life, which gives rise to a transformation of the intimate landscape of late modern societies, for instance, later marriages for both sexes and more instances of nontraditional relationship forms that are outside the traditional marriage model. According to Giddens (1992) and Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2002), this signifies an empowerment of women as they now have more freedom to make more informed relationship choices, which may or may not include marriage; in other words, women who are highly educated or have high professional status but are not married are not stigmatized, but are perceived as independent and liberated. On the other hand, in the Mainland Chinese media, highly educated career women of marriageable age who are unmarried have been coined derogatorily as sheng nu or ‘‘leftover women.’’ The Chinese Ministry of Education (2007) attributes the unmarried status of these women to their own ‘‘overly high expectations for marriage partners,’’ implying that they are the ones to blame for their own competence and independence. This is extremely telling of the patriarchal culture of Chinese society, which still advocates the ‘‘male-as-superior’’ pattern of marriage partner choice, rendering competent women to be discriminated against in the marriage market. Moreover, the patriarchal culture also lacks any positive concepts for describing independent career women who do not fit into traditional domestic roles. In other words, marriage is still a ‘‘must’’ for Chinese women, and as a result, there has been a proliferation of nation-wide matchmaking reality shows and matchmaking events across public parks in almost every mainland Chinese city where parents advertise their daughters’ physical and economic attributes on billboards in the hopes of getting them married off as soon as possible (Yang 2011). This contrast between the scorned sheng nu or ‘‘leftover women’’ in Mainland China and the ‘‘individualized’’ or liberated women found in the Western world and promoted in Giddens’ and Becks’ sociological theory is an interesting one that is worth investigating. Furthermore, there has been a paucity of academic studies that seriously investigate the phenomenon of urban Chinese professional women’s late marriage by an in-depth and exhaustive exploration of the women’s own perspectives regarding their marital situation, for instance, do they want to get married or stay single? Do they encounter any constraints in their quest for marriage? What types of partners are they looking for? As for the extremely few qualitative studies that do broach the topic of single Chinese managerial and professional women’s relationship landscapes and marital choices (Korabik 1993; Ng and Ng 2009), they are found to offer only descriptive accounts and not an overall theory that could provide a more conceptually sophisticated understanding of single, professional women’s marital
Understanding Sheng Nu ("Leftover Women') 3 situation.This is probably due to their small data sets (under 20 informants)which precludes comprehensive theoretical developments.The aim of my study which is based on interviews with 50 never-married Chinese professional women (a relatively large data set for qualitative studies)is therefore to provide an in-depth,theoretical understanding of the Chinese professional women's late marriage phenomenon.In order to serve my purpose of building a middle-range grounded theory of"Chinese professional women's marital decision making,"I have adopted Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin's grounded theory method(Strauss and Corbin 1990,1994;Corbin and Strauss 2008)which is underpinned by the interactionist epistemology Strauss and Corbin drew on one general model of action rooted in pragmatist and interactionist social theory to build a skeleton or "axis"for developing grounded theories.This "paradigm model"is used "to think systematically about data and to relate them in very complex ways"'(Strauss and Corbin 1990:99)and for determining the main purpose of theory construction:analysing and modelling action and interaction strategies of the actors.Thereby,special emphasis is laid on the intentions and goals of the actors and on the process character of human action and interaction. (Kelle 2005) In this particular study,the interactions captured are those between the Chinese professional women informants and their male romantic partners and parents, respectively.Parents and male romantic partners are found to be the key players who give rise to the conditions or constraints that the informants face when making their marital choices,and in response,they adopt various actions or strategies of marriage partner choice.They are then categorized into different "types"in accordance with their partner choice strategies,and this original typology of the 50 women informants would constitute this study's"grounded theory of Chinese professional women's marriage partner choice,"which can then be generalized toward understanding the actions and conditions faced by single professional women in other patriarchal societies. Given that grounded theory is an "interplay between (both)micro and macro conditions"(Corbin and Strauss 2008:91),the investigation of microsociological human actions and interactions in the Chinese women's partner choice process would also give rise to an elucidation of the wider structural factors that underlie their microinteractional constraints. The analysis of a setting must not be restricted to the conditions that bear immediately on the phenomenon of central interest.Broader conditions affecting the phenomenon may include economic conditions,cultural values,political trends,social movements,and so on. (Strauss and Corbin 1990:11). In this sense,the grounded theory of Chinese professional women's marital decision making will also give rise to the understanding of the wider patriarchal structure of modern Chinese society.The aim of this study is hence threefold,that is
Understanding Sheng Nu (‘‘Leftover Women’’) 3 situation. This is probably due to their small data sets (under 20 informants) which precludes comprehensive theoretical developments. The aim of my study which is based on interviews with 50 never-married Chinese professional women (a relatively large data set for qualitative studies) is therefore to provide an in-depth, theoretical understanding of the Chinese professional women’s late marriage phenomenon. In order to serve my purpose of building a middle-range grounded theory of ‘‘Chinese professional women’s marital decision making,’’ I have adopted Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin’s grounded theory method (Strauss and Corbin 1990, 1994; Corbin and Strauss 2008) which is underpinned by the interactionist epistemology. Strauss and Corbin drew on one general model of action rooted in pragmatist and interactionist social theory to build a skeleton or ‘‘axis’’ for developing grounded theories. This ‘‘paradigm model’’ is used ‘‘to think systematically about data and to relate them in very complex ways’’ (Strauss and Corbin 1990:99) and for determining the main purpose of theory construction: analysing and modelling action and interaction strategies of the actors. Thereby, special emphasis is laid on the intentions and goals of the actors and on the process character of human action and interaction. (Kelle 2005) In this particular study, the interactions captured are those between the Chinese professional women informants and their male romantic partners and parents, respectively. Parents and male romantic partners are found to be the key players who give rise to the conditions or constraints that the informants face when making their marital choices, and in response, they adopt various actions or strategies of marriage partner choice. They are then categorized into different ‘‘types’’ in accordance with their partner choice strategies, and this original typology of the 50 women informants would constitute this study’s ‘‘grounded theory of Chinese professional women’s marriage partner choice,’’ which can then be generalized toward understanding the actions and conditions faced by single professional women in other patriarchal societies. Given that grounded theory is an ‘‘interplay between (both) micro and macro conditions’’ (Corbin and Strauss 2008:91), the investigation of microsociological human actions and interactions in the Chinese women’s partner choice process would also give rise to an elucidation of the wider structural factors that underlie their microinteractional constraints. The analysis of a setting must not be restricted to the conditions that bear immediately on the phenomenon of central interest. Broader conditions affecting the phenomenon may include economic conditions, cultural values, political trends, social movements, and so on. (Strauss and Corbin 1990:11). In this sense, the grounded theory of Chinese professional women’s marital decision making will also give rise to the understanding of the wider patriarchal structure of modern Chinese society. The aim of this study is hence threefold, that is
Symbolic Interaction Volume 36,Number 1,2013 to devise an original typological grounded theory on Chinese professional women's marriage partner choice based on a study of 50 informants;to derive a more general understanding of single,professional women's marital situation in China and in other patriarchal societies;and finally,to gain more insight into the patriarchal structure of contemporary post-reform Chinese society.Before delving into the empirical outcomes,the first part of this article will elaborate extensively on the data sources of this study and the key procedures of the grounded theory method that were applied,including the procedures of concept and grounded theory development. Part Two will be an in-depth discussion of the key concepts and the four different types,and empirical examples will be given. PART ONE-DATA SOURCES,METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES, AND GROUNDED THEORY DEVELOPMENT My study on Chinese professional women's marital choices was conducted from 2008 to 2012 to fulfil the requirements of my doctoral thesis.In the period of December 2008 to January 2011,I carried out semistructured in-depth interviews in Shanghai in four separate stages to gather a total of 50 informants. Shanghai as the Site of Investigation Shanghai was the chosen site of investigation as it was known for being the most cosmopolitan commercial city in China where a large number of advanced service industry professionals from all over Mainland China and the Greater China region sought employment in global firms across the city (Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau 2011).As I was interested in finding out the perspectives of Chinese women from a large variety of Chinese cities and regions,including those of the Greater China regions such as Hong Kong and Taiwan,I chose Shanghai as it had the most cosmopolitan-foreign as well as Chinese-population (Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau 2011).At the end of my sampling period,I was able to gather Chinese women informants from a wide range of Chinese cities,namely Shanghai,Beijing,Nanjing,Anhui,Harbin,Shenyang,Wuxi,Zhejiang,Jiangsu, Henan,Chongqing,Guangzhou,Hong Kong,and Taiwan.The majority of the women were Shanghai locals,but there were found to be no perceptible differences in the "openness"of their relationship and marital views in comparison with those from other "less modern'or more traditional cities such as Shenyang or Harbin. Moreover,compared to the women from Hong Kong-a postcolonial region that had been under British rule for over a century and half-the women from Shanghai were also not generally seen to be more traditional or conservative than their Westernized Hong Kong counterparts when it came to making relationship choices. In the same vein,the Hong Kong parents and Hong Kong men that the Hong Kong informants encountered did not seem to exemplify less traditional views than the Mainland Chinese parents and Mainland Chinese men that the Mainland Chinese
4 Symbolic Interaction Volume 36, Number 1, 2013 to devise an original typological grounded theory on Chinese professional women’s marriage partner choice based on a study of 50 informants; to derive a more general understanding of single, professional women’s marital situation in China and in other patriarchal societies; and finally, to gain more insight into the patriarchal structure of contemporary post-reform Chinese society. Before delving into the empirical outcomes, the first part of this article will elaborate extensively on the data sources of this study and the key procedures of the grounded theory method that were applied, including the procedures of concept and grounded theory development. Part Two will be an in-depth discussion of the key concepts and the four different types, and empirical examples will be given. PART ONE—DATA SOURCES, METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES, AND GROUNDED THEORY DEVELOPMENT My study on Chinese professional women’s marital choices was conducted from 2008 to 2012 to fulfil the requirements of my doctoral thesis. In the period of December 2008 to January 2011, I carried out semistructured in-depth interviews in Shanghai in four separate stages to gather a total of 50 informants. Shanghai as the Site of Investigation Shanghai was the chosen site of investigation as it was known for being the most cosmopolitan commercial city in China where a large number of advanced service industry professionals from all over Mainland China and the Greater China region sought employment in global firms across the city (Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau 2011). As I was interested in finding out the perspectives of Chinese women from a large variety of Chinese cities and regions, including those of the Greater China regions such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, I chose Shanghai as it had the most cosmopolitan— foreign as well as Chinese—population (Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau 2011). At the end of my sampling period, I was able to gather Chinese women informants from a wide range of Chinese cities, namely Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Anhui, Harbin, Shenyang, Wuxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The majority of the women were Shanghai locals, but there were found to be no perceptible differences in the ‘‘openness’’ of their relationship and marital views in comparison with those from other ‘‘less modern’’ or more traditional cities such as Shenyang or Harbin. Moreover, compared to the women from Hong Kong—a postcolonial region that had been under British rule for over a century and half— the women from Shanghai were also not generally seen to be more traditional or conservative than their Westernized Hong Kong counterparts when it came to making relationship choices. In the same vein, the Hong Kong parents and Hong Kong men that the Hong Kong informants encountered did not seem to exemplify less traditional views than the Mainland Chinese parents and Mainland Chinese men that the Mainland Chinese
Understanding Sheng Nu("Leftover Women') 5 informants encountered,and thus,the interactional constraints that were faced by the Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese informants seemed to be fairly regular across regions.Perhaps overseas educational or work experience might be a better determinant of the women's"openness"'with regard to making relationship choices more than the region from which they were from.But then again,almost half of the informants in this study had studied or worked overseas for a number of years, which was a fairly common practice in Mainland China nowadays given the relative affluence of many urban middle class households,increased familial resources for only children of the late 70s to mid-80s cohort (the age group of the informants), and more overseas job placements issued by global firms.Generally speaking,those who had overseas experiences did not generally present much more open views than those who did not,except for one informant who spent considerably more time living with family in the US than the rest of the informants-who normally did not spend more than the duration of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree of several years.This informant who spent a prolonged period studying and living overseas (around ten years)was indeed an "Innovator"type-that is,one who advocated nontraditional relationship forms over marriage.These different types will be elaborated in detail in Part Two. Sources of the Data and the Interviewing Schedule Upon administering a total of four stages of sampling,coding,and data analyses, 50 never-married,tertiary-educated Chinese professional and managerial women in the age range of 26-34 and working in global firms in the industries of law, finance,marketing,advertising,information technology,medicine,retail,academia, and architecture were collected.These informants were sourced from my own personal contacts in Shanghai,which included family friends and former schoolmates, and upon snowballing from these contacts,I was able to gather a host of other informants from a diverse range of networks,such as the Overseas Chinese Network (OCN)which was a professional networking group for expatriate professionals of ethnic Chinese descent,the Cambridge and Oxford Society of Shanghai (CamOx), and a private finance professionals'networking group.There were several major gatekeepers who provided many of the informant sources,such as the Shanghai Head of a global consumer products company,a vice president of a global hospitality company,a committee member of the CamOx Society,a general manager of a family- run retail business,and a technology analyst from a global beverage company.On the whole,not more than three informants were provided by one gatekeeper in keeping with the need to ensure the diversity of the sample. The informants were interviewed in their offices,homes,coffee shops,and restaurants,and their interviews were taped using an MP3 recorder and lasted around 50 minutes each.The interview schedule was semistructured and was composed of key guiding questions that stemmed from a comprehensive literature review of quantitative and qualitative studies on the effects of women's economic status
Understanding Sheng Nu (‘‘Leftover Women’’) 5 informants encountered, and thus, the interactional constraints that were faced by the Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese informants seemed to be fairly regular across regions. Perhaps overseas educational or work experience might be a better determinant of the women’s ‘‘openness’’ with regard to making relationship choices more than the region from which they were from. But then again, almost half of the informants in this study had studied or worked overseas for a number of years, which was a fairly common practice in Mainland China nowadays given the relative affluence of many urban middle class households, increased familial resources for only children of the late 70s to mid-80s cohort (the age group of the informants), and more overseas job placements issued by global firms. Generally speaking, those who had overseas experiences did not generally present much more open views than those who did not, except for one informant who spent considerably more time living with family in the US than the rest of the informants—who normally did not spend more than the duration of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree of several years. This informant who spent a prolonged period studying and living overseas (around ten years) was indeed an ‘‘Innovator’’ type— that is, one who advocated nontraditional relationship forms over marriage. These different types will be elaborated in detail in Part Two. Sources of the Data and the Interviewing Schedule Upon administering a total of four stages of sampling, coding, and data analyses, 50 never-married, tertiary-educated Chinese professional and managerial women in the age range of 26–34 and working in global firms in the industries of law, finance, marketing, advertising, information technology, medicine, retail, academia, and architecture were collected. These informants were sourced from my own personal contacts in Shanghai, which included family friends and former schoolmates, and upon snowballing from these contacts, I was able to gather a host of other informants from a diverse range of networks, such as the Overseas Chinese Network (OCN) which was a professional networking group for expatriate professionals of ethnic Chinese descent, the Cambridge and Oxford Society of Shanghai (CamOx), and a private finance professionals’ networking group. There were several major gatekeepers who provided many of the informant sources, such as the Shanghai Head of a global consumer products company, a vice president of a global hospitality company, a committee member of the CamOx Society, a general manager of a familyrun retail business, and a technology analyst from a global beverage company. On the whole, not more than three informants were provided by one gatekeeper in keeping with the need to ensure the diversity of the sample. The informants were interviewed in their offices, homes, coffee shops, and restaurants, and their interviews were taped using an MP3 recorder and lasted around 50 minutes each. The interview schedule was semistructured and was composed of key guiding questions that stemmed from a comprehensive literature review of quantitative and qualitative studies on the effects of women’s economic status
6 Symbolic Interaction Volume 36,Number 1,2013 on their marriage timing and marriage chances(Wong 2003,2005;Ravanera and Rajulton 2007;Ono 2003;Korabik 1993;Ng and Ng 2009).These guiding questions included: (1)Do the career women want to get married in the first place? (2)If so,then what were the factors that hindered them from realizing their marriage goals? a.Putting career over marriage/family life?(voluntary) b.Difficulty in finding partners?(involuntary) (3)What type of partners were they looking for? With each stage of sampling and coding,new questions were added onto the interview schedule according to the evolving theoretical needs of the study(Charmaz 2006).For instance,in stage two of interviewing,questions related to parental expectations were added onto the schedule due to the prevalence of such a theme in the pilot or first stage of interviewing.The filial-related questions that were added were: (4)What criteria do your parents look for in your marriage partner? (5)Have they ever introduced any partners to you? (6)Have there ever been any disputes regarding your differences in partner choice criteria？ Sampling Procedures and Concept Formation At the outset,it was determined that all of the informants in the sample would have university-level education or above and work as professionals or managers in global firms in Shanghai.This was in keeping with the leading characteristics of sheng nu or"leftover women"who were hypothesized to have difficulties finding marriage partners because of their superior economic qualifications (Chinese Ministry of Education 2007).The age group and the marital statuses of the informants were not determined until after the pilot stage of interviewing.This was in keeping with the openness and fluidity of the grounded theory method,which encouraged concepts to emerge from the data with each stage of iterative sampling and coding.Besides the sampling criteria of"ethnicity"(Chinese),"educational level"(university or above),and"professional status"(professionals,managers,senior level executives, and entrepreneurs),the rest of the sampling criteria was left to be relatively open to ensure that it was guided by the empirical data,in keeping with the rationale of grounded theory,which was to let the hypotheses and concepts emerge and be induced from the data,instead of predetermining hypotheses in the onset and using the data to verify them like in quantitative approaches
6 Symbolic Interaction Volume 36, Number 1, 2013 on their marriage timing and marriage chances (Wong 2003, 2005; Ravanera and Rajulton 2007; Ono 2003; Korabik 1993; Ng and Ng 2009). These guiding questions included: (1) Do the career women want to get married in the first place? (2) If so, then what were the factors that hindered them from realizing their marriage goals? a. Putting career over marriage/family life? (voluntary) b. Difficulty in finding partners? (involuntary) (3) What type of partners were they looking for? With each stage of sampling and coding, new questions were added onto the interview schedule according to the evolving theoretical needs of the study (Charmaz 2006). For instance, in stage two of interviewing, questions related to parental expectations were added onto the schedule due to the prevalence of such a theme in the pilot or first stage of interviewing. The filial-related questions that were added were: (4) What criteria do your parents look for in your marriage partner? (5) Have they ever introduced any partners to you? (6) Have there ever been any disputes regarding your differences in partner choice criteria? Sampling Procedures and Concept Formation At the outset, it was determined that all of the informants in the sample would have university-level education or above and work as professionals or managers in global firms in Shanghai. This was in keeping with the leading characteristics ofsheng nu or ‘‘leftover women’’ who were hypothesized to have difficulties finding marriage partners because of their superior economic qualifications (Chinese Ministry of Education 2007). The age group and the marital statuses of the informants were not determined until after the pilot stage of interviewing. This was in keeping with the openness and fluidity of the grounded theory method, which encouraged concepts to emerge from the data with each stage of iterative sampling and coding. Besides the sampling criteria of ‘‘ethnicity’’ (Chinese), ‘‘educational level’’ (university or above), and ‘‘professional status’’ (professionals, managers, senior level executives, and entrepreneurs), the rest of the sampling criteria was left to be relatively open to ensure that it was guided by the empirical data, in keeping with the rationale of grounded theory, which was to let the hypotheses and concepts emerge and be induced from the data, instead of predetermining hypotheses in the onset and using the data to verify them like in quantitative approaches
Understanding Sheng Nu("Leftover Women') 7 The pilot stage of sampling was conducted to"obtain an overview of the overall process"'and to "determine the dimensions and boundaries ..of the project" (Morse 2007:235).In the pilot stage,I interviewed 20 women and men(with university education and working as professionals and managers)who were in the age range of 27-59,and who were single,in a relationship,married,divorced,and separated.After coding the interview transcripts using ATLAS.ti qualitative data analysis software, and analyzing the data manually for concepts,I decided that men's views did not contribute much to women's views on marriage and partner choice,and hence they were omitted from the sample.Other criteria that were refined after this initial stage were the age range and marital statuses of the women,as it was found that those who were never-married,and in the age range of 28-33 had more relevant and interesting relationship experiences to share,and hence the married,divorced,separated,and older informants were omitted.The second stage of"purposeful sampling"thus required sourcing out informants with this new set of criteria in accordance with the analyses of the first stage.In each stage of coding the data,the technique of "constant comparison"(Strauss and Corbin 1990,1994;Corbin and Strauss 2008) was employed to compare the codes and the data against each other in order to arrive at the most significant,representational,and conceptually relevant codes that will eventually become"conceptual categories'that will be integrated into the coding paradigm.The ATLAS.ti computer software program played an important role in identifying which codes had the largest number of occurrences and hence had the largest potential to be developed into analytical concepts and conceptual categories-although not replacing the concurrent manual analyses of the data. Eventually,after the first two stages of sampling and coding,analytical concepts and conceptual categories had been developed.The two main conceptual categories included"parents'emphasis on the economic status of women's partners"and"male superior norms and patriarchal perceptions of men."The third and fourth stages of"theoretical sampling"were subsequently conducted to fill in the dimensions and properties of these conceptual categories (Charmaz 2006).In the third stage of theoretical sampling,informants who hadhad experiences of being introduced to men by their parents (known as"matchmaking")were sourced out to fill in the dimensions and properties of the conceptual category of"parents'emphasis on men's economic status"-until the point of saturation,that is,when no new knowledge about the concept can be found.Similarly,in the fourth and final stage of theoretical sampling,informants who were at the top of their professions and would be hypothesized to pose the most threats to men's accomplishments were located in order to fill in the dimensions and properties of the conceptual category of"male superior norms and patriarchal perceptions of men
Understanding Sheng Nu (‘‘Leftover Women’’) 7 The pilot stage of sampling was conducted to ‘‘obtain an overview of the overall process’’ and to ‘‘determine the dimensions and boundaries ... of the project’’ (Morse 2007:235). In the pilot stage, I interviewed 20 women and men (with university education and working as professionals and managers) who were in the age range of 27–59, and who were single, in a relationship, married, divorced, and separated. After coding the interview transcripts using ATLAS.ti qualitative data analysis software, and analyzing the data manually for concepts, I decided that men’s views did not contribute much to women’s views on marriage and partner choice, and hence they were omitted from the sample. Other criteria that were refined after this initial stage were the age range and marital statuses of the women, as it was found that those who were never-married, and in the age range of 28–33 had more relevant and interesting relationship experiences to share, and hence the married, divorced, separated, and older informants were omitted. The second stage of ‘‘purposeful sampling’’ thus required sourcing out informants with this new set of criteria in accordance with the analyses of the first stage. In each stage of coding the data, the technique of ‘‘constant comparison’’ (Strauss and Corbin 1990, 1994; Corbin and Strauss 2008) was employed to compare the codes and the data against each other in order to arrive at the most significant, representational, and conceptually relevant codes that will eventually become ‘‘conceptual categories’’ that will be integrated into the coding paradigm. The ATLAS.ti computer software program played an important role in identifying which codes had the largest number of occurrences and hence had the largest potential to be developed into analytical concepts and conceptual categories—although not replacing the concurrent manual analyses of the data. Eventually, after the first two stages of sampling and coding, analytical concepts and conceptual categories had been developed. The two main conceptual categories included ‘‘parents’ emphasis on the economic status of women’s partners’’ and ‘‘male superior norms and patriarchal perceptions of men.’’ The third and fourth stages of ‘‘theoretical sampling’’ were subsequently conducted to fill in the dimensions and properties of these conceptual categories (Charmaz 2006). In the third stage of theoretical sampling, informants who had had experiences of being introduced to men by their parents (known as ‘‘matchmaking’’) were sourced out to fill in the dimensions and properties of the conceptual category of ‘‘parents’ emphasis on men’s economic status’’—until the point of saturation, that is, when no new knowledge about the concept can be found. Similarly, in the fourth and final stage of theoretical sampling, informants who were at the top of their professions and would be hypothesized to pose the most threats to men’s accomplishments were located in order to fill in the dimensions and properties of the conceptual category of ‘‘male superior norms and patriarchal perceptions of men.’’
Symbolic Interaction Volume 36,Number 1,2013 Integration of the Concepts and Conceptual Categories into the Conditional/Consequential Matrix After all of the conceptual categories were located via the multistaged iterative sampling and coding procedures of grounded theory,they were integrated into the Straussian coding paradigm also known as the Conditional/Consequential Matrix (Strauss and Corbin 1994;Corbin and Strauss 2008). In grounded theory,concepts are formulated and analytically developed,con- ceptual relationships are posited-but we are emphasizing here that they are inclusive of the multiple perspectives of the actors...Grounded theories connect this multiplicity of perspective with patterns and processes of action/interaction that in turn are linked with carefully specified conditions and consequences (Strauss and Corbin 1994:280) In this study,the two key conceptual categories were "parents'emphasis on the economic status of women's partners"and"male superior norms and patriarchal perceptions of men."The first category had to do with the parental or filial constraints that the women had to face when choosing their marriage partners,and the other category was related to the gendered constraints that the women had to face as posed by their male romantic partners.Both of these formed the conditions or constraints under which the women made their marital decisions.The other concepts that were located across the different stages of sampling and data analyses included “action-oriented'concepts such as“women dating Western men,”“women dating men with very high economic status,""women dating men who had lower economic status,""women concealing their accomplishments from men,"and"women opting for nontraditional relationship forms over marriage.'These"action-oriented"and "condition-oriented"concepts and conceptual categories were all integrated into the conditional/consequential matrix where the full scope of their interplay was illustrated (Table 1). In order to further consolidate these multiple conditional/consequential relation- ship strands,a typology of"Chinese professional women's marriage partner choice" was constructed. The Formation of the Typology According to Kenneth Bailey(1994:33),"a well-constructed typology can be very effective in bringing order out of chaos ..(and)can transform the complexity of apparently eclectic congeries of diverse cases into well-ordered sets of a few rather homogeneous types,clearly situated in a property space of a few important dimensions."The main"property space"or "attribute space"(Kluge 2000)within which this study's typology was formed included all of the concepts and conceptual categories that were located,such as the "condition-oriented"'concepts that were related to parentally induced and male romantic partner induced constraints,and the "action-oriented"concepts that were related to the women's strategies and responses
8 Symbolic Interaction Volume 36, Number 1, 2013 Integration of the Concepts and Conceptual Categories into the Conditional/Consequential Matrix After all of the conceptual categories were located via the multistaged iterative sampling and coding procedures of grounded theory, they were integrated into the Straussian coding paradigm also known as the Conditional/Consequential Matrix (Strauss and Corbin 1994; Corbin and Strauss 2008). In grounded theory, concepts are formulated and analytically developed, conceptual relationships are posited—but we are emphasizing here that they are inclusive of the multiple perspectives of the actors ... Grounded theories connect this multiplicity of perspective with patterns and processes of action/interaction that in turn are linked with carefully specified conditions and consequences (Strauss and Corbin 1994:280). In this study, the two key conceptual categories were ‘‘parents’ emphasis on the economic status of women’s partners’’ and ‘‘male superior norms and patriarchal perceptions of men.’’ The first category had to do with the parental or filial constraints that the women had to face when choosing their marriage partners, and the other category was related to the gendered constraints that the women had to face as posed by their male romantic partners. Both of these formed the conditions or constraints under which the women made their marital decisions. The other concepts that were located across the different stages of sampling and data analyses included ‘‘action-oriented’’ concepts such as ‘‘women dating Western men,’’ ‘‘women dating men with very high economic status,’’ ‘‘women dating men who had lower economic status,’’ ‘‘women concealing their accomplishments from men,’’ and ‘‘women opting for nontraditional relationship forms over marriage.’’ These ‘‘action-oriented’’ and ‘‘condition-oriented’’ concepts and conceptual categories were all integrated into the conditional/consequential matrix where the full scope of their interplay was illustrated (Table 1). In order to further consolidate these multiple conditional/consequential relationship strands, a typology of ‘‘Chinese professional women’s marriage partner choice’’ was constructed. The Formation of the Typology According to Kenneth Bailey (1994:33), ‘‘a well-constructed typology can be very effective in bringing order out of chaos ... (and) can transform the complexity of apparently eclectic congeries of diverse cases into well-ordered sets of a few rather homogeneous types, clearly situated in a property space of a few important dimensions.’’ The main ‘‘property space’’ or ‘‘attribute space’’ (Kluge 2000) within which this study’s typology was formed included all of the concepts and conceptual categories that were located, such as the ‘‘condition-oriented’’ concepts that were related to parentally induced and male romantic partner induced constraints, and the ‘‘action-oriented’’ concepts that were related to the women’s strategies and responses
Understanding Sheng Nu("Leftover Women') 9 TABLE 1.Constraints,Strategies,and Respective Types Condition:Gendered Consequence:Partner Further Consequence: Type Constraint Choice Strategy Filial Constraint Men who have"male Women look toward Parents against Western Maximizer superior norms"reject "open-minded" partner accomplished women Western men as partners Women look toward men with very high economic status(who won't be intimidated) Women conceal their accomplishments from men No concrete strategy to Traditionalist realize marriage goals Men who have patriarchal Women look toward men Parents against lower Satisficer attitudes want to with lower economic economic status of control women's status (who are more partner work-lifestyle choices egalitarian) (i.e.stay at home/work less) Women look toward Parents want them to get Innovator nontraditional married relationship forms outside marriage Source:original toward these constraints.Within this attribute space,the different combinations and interplay of the concepts and conceptual categories were considered,and those empirical cases which had the most similar combinations or"internal homogeneity" on the"level of the type"were categorized as one type(Kluge 2000).For instance, all of the women in the sample who adopted the strategy of"choosing Western men"' in response to being rejected by (Chinese)men for their accomplishments-and may also face the filial constraint of their parents preferring them to be with a Chinese partner-would be categorized as a"Maximizer"type.Or those women who"chose nontraditional relationship forms"when in face of"men's patriarchal attitudes,"which may elicit their parents'disagreement toward their decision not to marry were categorized as"Innovators."Finally,through an exhaustive comparative process,four different types which had sufficient"external heterogeneity"amongst themselves on the "level of the typology"were formed(Kluge 2000).Table 1 presents these four different types according to their respective conditions and strategies
Understanding Sheng Nu (‘‘Leftover Women’’) 9 TABLE 1. Constraints, Strategies, and Respective Types Condition: Gendered Constraint Consequence: Partner Choice Strategy Further Consequence: Filial Constraint Type Men who have ‘‘male superior norms’’ reject accomplished women Women look toward ‘‘open-minded’’ Western men as partners Parents against Western partner Maximizer Women look toward men with very high economic status (who won’t be intimidated) Women conceal their accomplishments from men No concrete strategy to realize marriage goals Traditionalist Men who have patriarchal attitudes want to control women’s work-lifestyle choices (i.e. stay at home/work less) Women look toward men with lower economic status (who are more egalitarian) Parents against lower economic status of partner Satisficer Women look toward nontraditional relationship forms outside marriage Parents want them to get married Innovator Source: original toward these constraints. Within this attribute space, the different combinations and interplay of the concepts and conceptual categories were considered, and those empirical cases which had the most similar combinations or ‘‘internal homogeneity’’ on the ‘‘level of the type’’ were categorized as one type (Kluge 2000). For instance, all of the women in the sample who adopted the strategy of ‘‘choosing Western men’’ in response to being rejected by (Chinese) men for their accomplishments—and may also face the filial constraint of their parents preferring them to be with a Chinese partner—would be categorized as a ‘‘Maximizer’’ type. Or those women who ‘‘chose nontraditional relationship forms’’ when in face of ‘‘men’s patriarchal attitudes,’’ which may elicit their parents’ disagreement toward their decision not to marry were categorized as ‘‘Innovators.’’ Finally, through an exhaustive comparative process, four different types which had sufficient ‘‘external heterogeneity’’ amongst themselves on the ‘‘level of the typology’’ were formed (Kluge 2000). Table 1 presents these four different types according to their respective conditions and strategies
10 Symbolic Interaction Volume 36,Number 1,2013 PART TWO-THEORIZING CHINESE PROFESSIONAL WOMEN'S LATE MARRIAGE:A DISCUSSION OF THE GROUNDED EMPIRICAL OUTCOMES The second half of this article will discuss the concepts and themes developed throughout the study in relation to how they contribute to the understanding of the sheng nu("leftover women")or Chinese professional women's late marriage phenomenon,and the wider patriarchal structure of modern Chinese society.Empir- ical examples of the four types will also be given. Men's Discrimination of Accomplished Women It was found that many of the Chinese professional women had been rejected by their male romantic partners and suitors because of their strong economic accomplishments.Men harboring"male superior norms"'were thus seen as a main caused that rendered the highly educated professional women "leftover"in the marriage market.Compared to Karen Korabik's (1993)study which highlighted the discriminatory treatment that educated Chinese managerial women faced in the marriage market in the early reform era,it was found that after four decades in today's post-reform era,highly educated career women still suffered from the same discriminatory treatment,as they were still passed over for less educated,less career-oriented women in the marriage market.One such example would be Tracy, a fund accountant with a UK Masters degree,who was rejected by a matchmaking candidate because of her high level of accomplishments. One of the guys who I was introduced to told me this.We didn't end up as a couple and he's married now.He said he really liked my personality when he first met me,and he really admired me.But he said he felt that he had to spend a lot of effort to control me,so he chose someone else who was easier to control. Tracy,29,Fund accountant Some women who were determined to shed their "leftover"'statuses chose to enact various partner choice strategies such as looking toward more "open-minded" Western men whom they considered to be more relaxed about upholding traditional "male superior norms,"or choosing men who had very high economic status who would not be easily intimidated by their accomplishments given the very strong accomplishments of their own.Still another strategy was to conceal one's own accomplishments such as educational level or profession from potential suitors so that they would not reject them by their external qualifications. I never tell people that I have a PhD.Even when I was doing my PhD I never told people about it.I just said I was"studying bio-chemistry."People wonder why I'm still in school for so long.I didn't even tell them I was doing a Masters. Frances,30,Pharmaceutical scientist
10 Symbolic Interaction Volume 36, Number 1, 2013 PART TWO—THEORIZING CHINESE PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S LATE MARRIAGE: A DISCUSSION OF THE GROUNDED EMPIRICAL OUTCOMES The second half of this article will discuss the concepts and themes developed throughout the study in relation to how they contribute to the understanding of the sheng nu (‘‘leftover women’’) or Chinese professional women’s late marriage phenomenon, and the wider patriarchal structure of modern Chinese society. Empirical examples of the four types will also be given. Men’s Discrimination of Accomplished Women It was found that many of the Chinese professional women had been rejected by their male romantic partners and suitors because of their strong economic accomplishments. Men harboring ‘‘male superior norms’’ were thus seen as a main caused that rendered the highly educated professional women ‘‘leftover’’ in the marriage market. Compared to Karen Korabik’s (1993) study which highlighted the discriminatory treatment that educated Chinese managerial women faced in the marriage market in the early reform era, it was found that after four decades in today’s post-reform era, highly educated career women still suffered from the same discriminatory treatment, as they were still passed over for less educated, less career-oriented women in the marriage market. One such example would be Tracy,1 a fund accountant with a UK Masters degree, who was rejected by a matchmaking candidate because of her high level of accomplishments. One of the guys who I was introduced to told me this. We didn’t end up as a couple and he’s married now. He said he really liked my personality when he first met me, and he really admired me. But he said he felt that he had to spend a lot of effort to control me, so he chose someone else who was easier to control. Tracy, 29, Fund accountant Some women who were determined to shed their ‘‘leftover’’ statuses chose to enact various partner choice strategies such as looking toward more ‘‘open-minded’’ Western men whom they considered to be more relaxed about upholding traditional ‘‘male superior norms,’’ or choosing men who had very high economic status who would not be easily intimidated by their accomplishments given the very strong accomplishments of their own. Still another strategy was to conceal one’s own accomplishments such as educational level or profession from potential suitors so that they would not reject them by their external qualifications. I never tell people that I have a PhD. Even when I was doing my PhD I never told people about it. I just said I was ‘‘studying bio-chemistry.’’ People wonder why I’m still in school for so long. I didn’t even tell them I was doing a Masters. Frances, 30, Pharmaceutical scientist