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Relational legal consciousness in the one-child nation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Qian Liu Open the ORCID record for Qian Liu [Opens in a new window]
Qian Liu*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
*
Qian Liu, Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N.W. Calgary AB T2N 1N4, Canada. Email: qian.liu2@ucalgary.ca
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Abstract

This article draws from a qualitative study of people's responses to China's population control policies to analyze the relational formation of legal consciousness within and across different types of relationships. It demonstrates that our expectations of others and theirs of us regarding how to respond to law change significantly when we situate ourselves in different types of relationships. The fluid boundaries of relationships in Chinese society also make it essential to think and plan relationally and holistically across different types of relationships to come up with strategies to resist or comply with the law. During this process of relational formation of legal consciousness, law interacts with and reshapes social norms to determine the (un)availability of alternative mechanisms based on the individual's social and financial status.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , June 2023 , pp. 214 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © 2023 Law and Society Association.

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Footnotes

How to cite this article: Liu, Qian. 2023. “Relational Legal Consciousness in the one-Child Nation.” Law & Society Review 57(2): 214–233. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12649

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