Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T11:53:36.811Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Complex transformation of divorce in Vietnam under the forces of modernization and individualism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2021

Tran Thi Minh Thi
Tran Thi Minh Thi*
Affiliation:
Institute for Family and Gender Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Hanoi, Viet Nam
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

After more than four decades since its reunification since 1975, Vietnam has achieved remarkable results in social and economic development. With the rapid speed of recent modernization, society has loosened numerous old values related to the family and promoted individual freedoms. Marriage and family affairs, including divorce, have modernized with liberal characteristics. The paper examines the trends of divorce and reasons for divorce using statistical data from the Vietnam People's Supreme Court and from the government's annual population statistics. The analysis compiled and analysed a database of every divorce case at six urban and rural districts in Can Tho province. The analysis highlights changes in the reasons for divorce in the South in comparison with previous divorce studies in the North of Vietnam, discussed in relation to modernization, individualism and gender equality. The analysis is supported by interview data with thirty male and female divorcees.

Keywords

Divorce prevalenceindividualismmodernizationreasons for divorcesouth Vietnam
Type
Individual Articles
Information
International Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , July 2021 , pp. 225 - 245
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amato, Paul and Previti, Denise (2003). “People's Reasons for Divorcing: Gender, Social Class, the Life Course, and Adjustment.” Journal of Family Issues 24:5, pp. 602–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, Ulrich (1992). The Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage Publication.Google Scholar
Bộ Lao động Thương binh và Xã hội, Tổng cục Thống kê và Quỹ Dân số Liên hợp quốc tại Việt Nam (MOLISA et al.,) (2020). Báo cáo Điều tra quốc gia về bạo lực đối với phụ nữ ở Việt Nam năm 2019 - Hành trình để thay đổi.Google Scholar
Chang, Kyung-Sup (2010). “Individualization without Individualism: Compressed Modernity and Obfuscated Family Crisis in East Asia”. Journal of Intimate and Public Spheres, Asian and Global Forum. Kyoto University Global COE Program. Pilot Issue. March 2010.Google Scholar
Đặng, Phong (2008). Tư duy kinh tế Việt Nam – Chặng đường gian nan và ngoạn mục 1975–1989. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Tri thức.Google Scholar
Do, Long and Phan, T. M. H. (2002). Collectivism, Individualism and “the Self” of the Vietnamese Today. Hanoi: Chinh tri Quoc gia Publisher.Google Scholar
Friedman, Laurence M. (2009). Divorce: The “Silent Revolution”, pp.203–09 in Family in Transition, eds, Skolnick, A. S. and Skolnick, J. H.. New York: Pearson.Google Scholar
Gammeltoft, T. (2007). “Prenatal Diagnosis in Postwar Vietnam: Power, Subjectivity and Citizenship.” American Anthropologist 109:1, pp. 153–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goode, William J. (1963). World Revolution and Family Patterns. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Goode, William J. (1971). Family Disorganization. pp. 467–544 in Contemporary Social Problems 3rd, eds, Merton, Robert K. and Nisbet, Robert. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Goode, W. J. (1993). World Changes in Divorce Patterns. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
GSO (2010). Keeping Silent is Dying. Results from the National Study on Domestic Violence against Women in Viet Nam. Hanoi: The Statistics Publishing House.Google Scholar
GSO (2011a). The 2009 Vietnam Population and Housing Census: Major Findings. Hanoi: The Statistics Publishing House.Google Scholar
GSO (2011b). Sex Ratio at Birth in Vietnam: New Evidence on Pattern, Trends, and Differentials. Hanoi: The Statistics Publishing HouseGoogle Scholar
GSO (2018). Report on Labour Force Survey in Quarter III, 2018. Ha Noi: General Statistics Office of Vietnam.Google Scholar
GSO (2019). The Result of the 2019 Viet Nam Population and Housing Census of 0:00 hours on 1 April 2019. Ha Noi: Central Census Steering Committee.Google Scholar
GSO & UNFPA (2016). “The 2014 Viet Nam Intercensal Population and Housing Survey.” In Fertility in Viet Nam: Differentials, Trends, and Determinants. Ha Noi: Vietnam News Agency Publishing House.Google Scholar
Hirschman, C. and Nguyen, H. M. (2002). “Tradition and change in Vietnamese family strucure on the Red River Delta”. Journal of Marriage and Family 64:4, pp. 1063–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschman, C. and Teerawichitchainan, Bussarawan (2003). “Cultural and Socioeconomic Influences on Divorce during Modernization: Southeast Asia: 1940s to 1960s.” Population and Development Review 29:2, pp. 215–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Insun, Yu (1994). Luật và Xã hội Việt Nam thế kỷ XVII-XVIII. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học xã hội.Google Scholar
Jones, Gavin W. (1997). “Modernization and Divorce: Contrasting Trends in Islamic Southeast Asia and the West.” Population and Development Review 23:1, pp. 95–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Gavin W. (2007). “Delayed Marriage and very low Fertility in Pacific Asia.” Population and Development Review 33:3, pp. 453–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidd, S., Gelders, B. and Tran, A. (2019). Potential Impacts of Social Pensions in Viet Nam. Ha Noi: ILO.Google Scholar
Lee, Gary (1982). Family Structure and Interaction: A Comparative Analysis, 2nd ed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Lee, Yean-Jug (2006). “Risk Factors in the Rapidly Rising Incidence of Divorce in Korea.” Asian Population Studies 222, pp. 113–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marr, David (1981). Vietnamese Tradition on Trial 1920–1945. University of California Press.Google Scholar
Nguyễn, Chiến Thắng (2019). Các chức năng kinh tế của gia đình Việt Nam hiện nay. Báo cáo tổng hợp. Chương trình Nghiên cứu tổng thể về gia đình Việt Nam thời kỳ công nghiệp hóa, hiện đại hóa và hội nhập quốc tế. Viện Hàn lâm KHXH Việt Nam.Google Scholar
Nguyễn, Đức Nghinh (1982). Những Điều khoản về Luật hộ trong luật Gia long, Luật lệ dưới triều Minh Mệnh, Thiệu Trị và Luật pháp thời Lê. Trường ĐHSP Hanoi.Google Scholar
Hữu Minh, Nguyễn (2019). Các đặc điểm cơ bản của hôn nhân ở Việt Nam hiện nay và các yếu tố tác động. Báo cáo tổng hợp. Chương trình Nghiên cứu tổng thể về gia đình Việt Nam thời kỳ công nghiệp hóa, hiện đại hóa và hội nhập quốc tế. Viện Hàn lâm KHXH Việt Nam.Google Scholar
Nguyễn, Sinh Cúc (1991). Thực trạng nông nghiệp, nông thôn và nông dân Việt Nam 1976–1990. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Thống kê, Hà Nội.Google Scholar
Quah, Stella (2003) “Major Trends Affecting Families in East and Southeast Asia”. In Major Trends Affecting Families, ed, Ghaleb, A., New York: United Nations, pp. 78–104.Google Scholar
Raymo, James M., Park, Hyunjoon, Xie, Yu, and Yeung, Wei-jun Jean (2015). “Marriage and Family in East Asia: Continuity and Change.” Annual Review of Sociology 41, pp. 471–92. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112428.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shryock, S. Henry, Siegel, S. Jacob and Larmon, Elizabeth (1975). The methods and Materials of Demography. Volume 2. United States. Bureau of the Census.Google Scholar
Tran, Dinh Huou (1991). “Traditional Families in Vietnam and the Influence of Confucianism.” In Sociological Studies on the Vietnamese Families, eds. Liljestrom, Rita and Lai, Tuong, pp. 25–47. Hanoi: Social Sciences Publishing House.Google Scholar
Tran Thi, Minh Thi (2014). Divorce in Contemporary Viet Nam: A Socio-economic and Structural Analysis of Divorce in the Red River Delta in 2000s. Hanoi: Social Sciences Publishing House.Google Scholar
Trần Thị, Minh Thi (2019). Các giá trị cơ bản của Gia đình Việt Nam hiện nay. Báo cáo tổng hợp. Chương trình Nghiên cứu tổng thể về gia đình Việt Nam thời kỳ công nghiệp hóa, hiện đại hóa và hội nhập quốc tế. Mã số KHXH-GĐ/16-19/10. Viện Hàn lâm KHXH Việt Nam.Google Scholar
Trần Thị, Minh Thi (2020a). “Phân chia con cái và tài sản sau ly hôn ở các gia đình khu vực Tây Nam Bộ”. Tạp chí Khoa học xã hội Việt Nam, số 3, trang 10-20. ISSN1013-4328.Google Scholar
Trần Thị, Minh Thi (chủ biên) (2020b). Đời sống hôn nhân và gia đình nông thôn đồng bằng Bắc bộ giai đoạn 1976–1986. Dự thảo sách.Viện Nghiên cứu Gia đình và Giới, Hà Nội.Google Scholar
Trần Thị, Minh Thi, Nguyễn, Hữu Minh (chủ biên) (2020). Đời sống hôn nhân và gia đình nông thôn đồng bằng Bắc bộ giai đoạn 1960–1975. Dự thảo sách.Viện Nghiên cứu Gia đình và Giới. Hà NộiGoogle Scholar
Trent, K. and South, Scott (1989). “Structural Determinants of the Divorce Rate: A Cross-Societal Analysis.” Journal of Marriage and Family 51:2, pp. 391–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsuya, N. O., Mason, K. O. and Bumpass, L.L. (2004). Views of Marriage Among Never-Married Young Adults. in Marriage, Work and Family Life in Comparative Perspective: Japan, South Korea and the United States, eds, Tsuya, Noriko O. and Bumpass, Larry L.. pp. 39–53. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
UNFPA (2010). Sex ratio at birth in Southeast Asia with a focus on Vietnam: An annotated bibliography designed to guide further policy research. Ha Noi: UNFPA in Hanoi.Google Scholar
UN Women (2016). Towards gender equality in Viet Nam: Making inclusive growth work for women. Ha Noi: UN Women in Hanoi.Google Scholar
Vũ, Mạnh Lợi (2019). Vấn đề ly hôn trong xã hội Việt Nam hiện đại”. Báo cáo tổng hợp. Chương trình Nghiên cứu tổng thể về gia đình Việt Nam thời kỳ công nghiệp hóa, hiện đại hóa và hội nhập quốc tế. Viện Hàn lâm KHXH Việt Nam.Google Scholar
White, Lynn and Rogers, Stacy J. (2000). “Economic Circumstances and Family Outcomes: A Review of the 1990s.” Journal of Marriage and Family 62:4, pp. 1035–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, X. and Lai, S. (2002). “Resources, Gender Ideologies, and Marital Power: The Case of Taiwan.” Journal of Family Issues 23, pp. 209–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, Wen-Shan and Yen, Pei Chih (2010). A Comparative Study of Marital Dissolution in East Asia: Gender Attitudes and Social Expectations towards Marriage in Taiwan, Korea and Japan.Google Scholar
Yeung, W.-J. J., Desai, S. and Jones, G. W. (2018). “Families in Southeast and South Asia.” Annual Review of Sociology 44, pp. 469–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yi, Zeng and Deqing, Wu (2000). “A Regional Analysis of Divorce in China since 1980”. Demography 37, pp. 215–219. https://doi.org/10.2307/2648123CrossRefGoogle Scholar