Merril Silverstein, Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor of Aging Studies and chair of sociology, has edited and written the introduction for “Aging Families in Chinese Society” (Routledge, 2022), which was recently released in paperback.

Silverstein and the book’s contributing writers provide insights into the social and demographic changes in China associated with declining fertility rates and increased life expectancies. Through different lenses, they examine the implications of an aging society and the challenges facing aging families in China.

The book is divided into four thematic areas: Disability and Family Support; Family Relationships and Mental Health; Filial Piety and Gender Norms; and Long-Term Care Preferences. It is the result of a workshop supported with a Cuse Conference grant. Sociologist and University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer wrote the book’s foreward and is editor of Routledge’s Society and Aging series. 

Silverstein is inaugural holder of the Marjorie Cantor Chair in Aging Studies in the Maxwell School's Sociology Department and in Falk College's Department of Human Development and Family Science. He is a faculty associate in the Aging Studies Institute and a research affiliate in the Center for Policy Research and in the Center for Aging and Policy Studies. Published in over 150 research publications, he has focused on aging in the context of family life, with an emphasis on life course and international perspectives.

From the Publisher:

Declining fertility rates and increased life expectancies over the last few decades have conspired to make China one of the more rapidly aging societies in the world. Aging Families in Chinese Society focuses on the accelerated social and demographic changes in China and examines their implications for family care and support for older adults.

Contributors to this landmark volume portray various challenges facing aging families in China as a result of reduced family size, changing gender expectations, rapid economic development and urbanization, rural-to-urban migration, and an emerging but still underdeveloped long-term care system. Divided into four thematic areas – Disability and Family Support; Family Relationships and Mental Health; Filial Piety and Gender Norms; and Long-term Care Preferences – chapters in this volume confront these burgeoning issues and offer salient policy and practice considerations not just for today’s aging population, but future generations to come.

Combining quantitative data from social surveys in China, comparative surveys in Taiwan and Thailand, and qualitative data from in-depth interviews, Aging Families in Chinese Societies will be of significant interest to students and researchers in aging and gerontology, China and East Asian Studies and population studies.