This book is a study of polyandry; wife-selling; and a variety of related practices in China during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). By analyzing over 1200 legal cases from local and central court archives; Matthew Sommer explores the functions played by marriage; sex; and reproduction in the survival strategies of the rural poor under conditions of overpopulation; worsening sex ratios; and shrinking farm sizes. Polyandry and wife-selling represented opposite ends of a spectrum of strategies. At one end; polyandry was a means to keep the family together by expanding it. A woman would bring in a second husband in exchange for his help supporting her family. In contrast; wife sale was a means to survive by breaking up a family: a husband would secure an emergency infusion of cash while his wife would escape poverty and secure a fresh start with another man.Even though Qing law prohibited both practices under the rubric “illicit sexual relations;†Sommer shows how magistrates charged with propagating and enforcing a fundamentalist Confucian vision of female chastity tried to cope with their social reality in the face of daunting poverty. This contradiction illuminates both the pragmatism of routine adjudication and the increasingly dysfunctional nature of the dynastic state in the face of mounting social crisis. By casting a spotlight on the rural poor and the experiences of both men and women; Sommer provides an alternative to the standard paradigms of women’s history that have long dominated scholarship on gender and sexuality in late imperial China.
#6535906 in Books 2013-05-25Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.00 x 6.00l; 1.20 #File Name: 0520274717314 pages
Review
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Insightful and compassionateBy Irene HayesAn important book that gives a voice to women frequently dismissed in this era of 'lean in.' Filled with compelling stories; Levine presents her research in a way that helps shine a light on the lives and challenges of low-wage women and what can be done to help them and their families.5 of 8 people found the following review helpful. I WOULD HAVE LOVED THS BOOK A WHOLE NOT MORE IF VOICES OF LOW INCOME FOLKS WERE HEARD MORE THE RESEARCHERS TALKED FAR LESS!By AUTISTIC WEREWOLFYou see the title Ain't No Trust: How Bosses; Boyfriends; and Bureaucrats Fail Low-Income Mothers and Why It Matters and think hey this book might be interesting. You think upon reading the title of the book you might hear low income mothers talk candidly about How Bosses; Boyfriends; and Bureaucrats Fail them but you'd be so wrong. This book is about what rich privledged researchers who are more often than not white folk think they see when observing poor low income minorities trying in vain to cope with an increasingly draconian and heartless welfare system.Oh don't get me wrong the researchers in this book are your typical bleeding heart liberal goody two shoes types who see Welfare to Work as the most sadistic abomination ever concieved by the minds of man. Unfortunately the voices of poor ladies speaking for themselves takes a 13th row seat in the book as the researchers in their liberal zeal to score points against welfare reform muffle the very voices of poverty this book suggests it listens to. This book is an analytical study of Low Income mothers that attempts to reduce human suffering; heartache; struggle; failure and triumph into cold often meaningless mind numbing numbers. If you are a clinical researcher who needs the poverty cycle of poor disinfranchised minorities disected like a masters degree paper this is your book look no further.If you wanted to read Ain't No Trust: How Bosses; Boyfriends; and Bureaucrats Fail Low-Income Mothers and Why It Matters thinking you would get an insightful look at powerty among the working poor and truly poor told in their own words unedited think again. The low income folks are allowed to speak in tiny snippets used to illustrate some grand liberal theory or cause that ends up being the same reheated socialist redistrubute the wealth garbage they have been spewing for years. I give the book three stars only because; every now and again we hear real voices of low income people speaking of their suffering. We can NOT help low income people until we as a nation hear of their suffering in their words. I believe poor people and especially low income mothers need the help a good paying job offers and nothing more. I believe the minimum wage is so low it's a criminal slave wage that shames the United States of America. I think welfare should be replaced by jobs that pay enough to make welfare as we know it obsolete. As it is Welfare subsidizes big businesses by letting them pay slave wages while the government makes up the difference needed to live and that should end. The problem is this book adds nothing to the discourse since it does not live up to its title.I wanted so much to give Ain't No Trust: How Bosses; Boyfriends; and Bureaucrats Fail Low-Income Mothers and Why It Matters a five star rating but; in all honesty I just couldn't. the book never once lived up to its lofty ideals its just another liberals speaking for the poor with cooked numbers; tables and snippets taken out of context. (Garbage)
