Marriage Unbound: State Law, Power, and Inequality in Contemporary China

Author:   Ke Li
Publisher:   Stanford University Press
ISBN:  

9781503613140


Pages:   344
Publication Date:   26 July 2022
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Marriage Unbound: State Law, Power, and Inequality in Contemporary China


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Full Product Details

Author:   Ke Li
Publisher:   Stanford University Press
Imprint:   Stanford University Press
ISBN:  

9781503613140


ISBN 10:   1503613143
Pages:   344
Publication Date:   26 July 2022
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Audiences, Theoretical Objectives, and Arguments 2. Marriage on the Move 3. Disputation as a State Enterprise 4. The Rise and Fall of Legal Workers 5. Judging Divorce in the People's Courts 6. Onstage and Offstage 7. Issues and Nonissues Epilogue

Reviews

"""Ke Li's sophisticated multi-disciplinary analytic framing and explicit critique of received wisdom engage debates over the role of courts, legal professionals, and black-letter law beyond those of China or of authoritarian states. One of the most analytically original and theoretically informed investigations of divorce I have ever read.""—Deborah Davis, Yale University ""An instant landmark work. Li seamlessly fuses extensive firsthand interviews with a masterful analysis of Chinese legal developments to illustrate the harsh realities confronting migrant women seeking divorce. A must-read for anyone interested in law, society, and gender in China today.""—Carl Minzner, Fordham Law School ""Li's book presents an illuminating look at the changing social institution of marriage in contemporary China. Highly recommended.""—S. K. Ma, CHOICE March ""Ke Li's analysis is more than a superb ethnographic and historical account of changes in the Chinese court system and its effect on women. It is also a sustained effort to place the historical changes within an analytical framework that explores how cultural beliefs shape governmental policy and, thus, the resolution of a divorce case.""—William Jankowiak, NAN Nü ""Based on more than 10 years' in-depth field research in two rural townships in Sichuan Province, Li provides a vivid picture of how rural women struggle in strained marriage, and how they mobilize state law to fight for their freedom and rights in intimate relationships, and how the judicial institutions respond to these women's claims.... Li sees through the gendered outcomes in different individual divorce cases to make a big story that links state law, power, and inequality together.""—Mengni Chen, Social Forces ""Well-written and insightful, Li's work on divorce litigation sheds significant new light on the law, politics, and inequality in an authoritarian state.""—Soo-Yeon Yoon, Contemporary Sociology ""Marriage Unbound is an impressive work of interdisciplinary scholarship, grounded in empirical research, that significantly advances understanding of authoritarian legality and dispute resolution while yielding insights about statecraft and women's rights in China. The author Ke Li empathetically relates, and meticulously analyzes, injustices encountered by migrant women who seek divorce, often to escape domestic violence.""—Arianne M. Gaetano, Pacific Affairs"


Ke Li's sophisticated multi-disciplinary analytic framing and explicit critique of received wisdom engage debates over the role of courts, legal professionals, and black-letter law beyond those of China or of authoritarian states. One of the most analytically original and theoretically informed investigations of divorce I have ever read. -- Deborah Davis * Yale University *


Ke Li's sophisticated multi-disciplinary analytic framing and explicit critique of received wisdom engage debates over the role of courts, legal professionals, and black-letter law beyond those of China or of authoritarian states. One of the most analytically original and theoretically informed investigations of divorce I have ever read. -- Deborah Davis * Yale University * An instant landmark work. Li seamlessly fuses extensive firsthand interviews with a masterful analysis of Chinese legal developments to illustrate the harsh realities confronting migrant women seeking divorce. A must-read for anyone interested in law, society, and gender in China today. -- Carl Minzner * Fordham Law School *


"""Ke Li's sophisticated multi-disciplinary analytic framing and explicit critique of received wisdom engage debates over the role of courts, legal professionals, and black-letter law beyond those of China or of authoritarian states. One of the most analytically original and theoretically informed investigations of divorce I have ever read.""—Deborah Davis, Yale University ""An instant landmark work. Li seamlessly fuses extensive firsthand interviews with a masterful analysis of Chinese legal developments to illustrate the harsh realities confronting migrant women seeking divorce. A must-read for anyone interested in law, society, and gender in China today.""—Carl Minzner, Fordham Law School ""Li's book presents an illuminating look at the changing social institution of marriage in contemporary China. Highly recommended.""—S. K. Ma, CHOICE March ""Ke Li's analysis is more than a superb ethnographic and historical account of changes in the Chinese court system and its effect on women. It is also a sustained effort to place the historical changes within an analytical framework that explores how cultural beliefs shape governmental policy and, thus, the resolution of a divorce case.""—William Jankowiak, NAN Nü ""Based on more than 10 years' in-depth field research in two rural townships in Sichuan Province, Li provides a vivid picture of how rural women struggle in strained marriage, and how they mobilize state law to fight for their freedom and rights in intimate relationships, and how the judicial institutions respond to these women's claims.... Li sees through the gendered outcomes in different individual divorce cases to make a big story that links state law, power, and inequality together.""—Mengni Chen, Social Forces"


Author Information

Ke Li is Assistant Professor of Political Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the City University of New York.

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