Join us April 25 at 12:30 PM for Re-institutionalization of Marriage Among Young People in Taiwan a lunchtime talk by guest lecturer Lake Lui, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at National Taiwan University. This lecture is part of the Ultra-Low Birth Rate in East Asia: Crisis Discourses and Collaborative Responses conference the same day.
Grounded in the literature on the deinstitutionalization of marriage, this presentation explores why, despite holding diverse ideologies about marriage, people in Taiwan have not widely practiced alternatives such as long-term cohabitation or singlehood. The analysis is framed within the cultural-cognitive approach of neo-institutionalism, examining how individuals and couples renegotiate their relationship with the institution of marriage.
Drawing on love and marriage histories from 35 Taiwanese adults aged 20–40, Lui analyzes the meanings young people ascribe to marriage and how these perspectives align with or challenge the normative and regulatory foundations of Taiwan’s marriage institution. She also investigates the structural and cultural factors that enable or hinder the realization of their marital beliefs, including conflicting logics within the institution of marriage—such as the tension between traditionalism and newer logics, such as romanticism, the value of companionship, and the aspiration for autonomy—as well as the influence of surrounding institutions, including work, intergenerational family, and legal institutions.
Lui’s research explores how global forces such as economic restructuring, migration, and sociocultural changes interact with national policies to shape gender relations and family dynamics in Asia. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, she examines marriage formation processes, household dynamics, and fertility decisions. Her recent work investigates the relationships among im/mobilities, political contestations, political repression, and the role of the family in weathering changes. Her major publications have appeared in Social Forces; Sociology; International Migration Review; The Sociological Review; Social Science Research; and Journal of Family Issues. She is also the author of Re-negotiating Gender: Household Division of Labor when She Earns More than He Does (Springer).
Sponsored by the UW Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, Taiwan Studies Program, and the East Asia Center (a Department of Education Title VI Center).
REGISTER FOR IN-PERSON OR ONLINE ATTENDANCE at Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology event page.