Reconstruction Of Rural Family Intergenerational Relationships From The Perspective Of Exchange Theory

As we all know, during the social transformation, the high-speed development of rural society’s economic development, living standards, values, the way of life and so on. All of them have changed significantly. While the rural family as one of the most basic social cell also go through great changes. Rural family structure gradually changes from the traditional immediate family and the joint family as the main body to the nuclear family or small family as the main body. At the same time, the shift also directly contributing to the reconstruction of family intergenerational relationships. However, the matter is the construction of rural family intergenerational relationship has an important influence on comprehensive development and family. Therefore, it is of great academic value and academic significance to strengthen the research on the rural family intergenerational relationship, to solve the problem of rural family intergenerational conflict, to promote the harmonious development of intergenerational relations and the rural society.In this paper, I collect the data which I need in my paper by means of literature research and semi-structured interviews. On the other hand, I also take village E in Hebei province as an example to explore and analysis the reconstruction and the social influence of the rural family intergenerational relationship. Through the interviews, I collected a large amount of information about family intergenerational relationships. What’s more, all of them lay a good foundation for the study of rural family intergenerational relationships. I embark from the case of empirical research, and make the family intergenerational relationships as the clue of this study. In this process I also analysis the family members’interaction activities in family life by exchange theory, and also the interactive logic of intergenerational support between them. From this process I try to give a preliminary exploration. What’s more, in my opinion, this can really help us understand the rural family intergenerational relationships in social transformation.Through the research, I find that the exchange theory has penetrated into the rural family intergenerational relationships. At the same time, we can also clearly find that the rural family intergenerational relationship is full of rational and utilitarian colors. Specifically, we also can clearly found the fact that since the 90s, the acceleration of urbanization and industrialization development in our country. And this provides more and more opportunities for the surplus labor in rural areas to come to cities for job. So it prompted the mode of a new family structure’s emergence and development. It also promotes the change of the rural family intergenerational relationships. As we can know, the reconstruction and change of the rural family inter-generational relations actually reflects the rural households regardless of the points of inter-generational relations, though some families still live together, it’s actually a state of "close". In essence, the rural family intergenerational relationship is also based on the exchange. At the same time, the logic and the interactions between family intergenerational relationships and interactions between them have been changed, and the rural family structure of the traditional authority structure gradually recession. It began to build a new offspring as the core of the authority structure, and it also began to occupy the dominant position. In this process of the rural family intergenerational relationships’ changing, parent-child relationship appeared signs of rupture, and also with the weakening of traditional filial piety concept. The traditional idea of "support" is becoming more and more doubtful. Family intergenerational interaction between them is also more of a relationship of exchange than love. We can also see that the intergenerational relationship in rural family is become more and more rational and less sensitive. The intergenerational relationship of this kind may influence the family harmony and the interaction between family members. And it also can be a serious threat to the traditional family endowment function.