About the lecture: The Japanese population has been experiencing natural declines for over a decade. Scholars and observers of Japan have attributed the population decrease to its extremely low fertility, which is closely tied to the trend of later and less marriage in that country. In this talk I will discuss several studies in which I use longitudinal data to examine the roles of marriage desires, job prospects and economic security, social environments, living arrangements, and mate preferences in the formation of romantic relationship and marriage in Japan. Through showing how the various factors affect singles’ likelihood of engage in active partner search and entering a relationship or marriage, my research sheds light on the validity of several previously proposed explanations for marriage postponement in Japan.
About the speaker: Wei-hsin Yu is a sociologist and social demographer specializing in the areas of social stratification and gender inequality. Her research focuses on how macrolevel forces influence individuals, paying special attention to their labor market outcomes, family behaviors, and health and wellbeing. She has published two books and numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, including American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, and Demography. Her current project examines how different working conditions are linked to wage inequality and family dynamics in the United States. She is also conducting research on gender attitudes and the formation of romantic unions in East Asia (e.g., Japan, Taiwan).
Co-sponsored with the Department of Sociology