Panel presentation :

This panel is devoted to the presentation of the results of DefiChine project (2013-2017), funded by the ANR and HeSam University. The project focuses on male bachelorhood in China, where heterosexual marriage remains the norm and still determines access to various prerogatives (e.g. cohabitation with a partner, family formation, social participation, etc.). Based on a quantitative survey and semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted in 2014-2015 in three rural counties of Southern Shaanxi and in Xi'an city among migrants native of these rural counties, DefiChine investigates the relationship between a reduced availability female partners (which results from the imbalanced sex ratios at adult ages) and various aspects of the life of unmarried men (living conditions, living arrangement, sexual behavior, strategies of mate selection, perceptions of gender roles) who, due to their bachelorhood, are facing critical situations with respect to the norm. The objective is the understanding of the processes and conditions (including socioeconomic) that determine access to women where they are locally in lesser number than men in the marriage/partnership and heterosexuality markets, given that women's practice of hypergamy makes access to women dependent on men's social and economic status. The project analyzes how men's practices and attitudes (including perception of gender roles) are configured when they experience an involuntary bachelorhood. The panel investigates in particular strategies of mate selection, sexual behavior, and gender roles with a focus on marriage and prostitution. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are conducted to compare samples of married and never married men, migrants and non-migrants.