One Child

Author: Mei Fong

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

ISBN: 1780748469

Category: Political Science

Page: 272

View: 653


For over three decades, China exercised unprecedented control over the reproductive habits of its billion citizens. Now, with its economy faltering just as it seemed poised to become the largest in the world, the Chinese government has brought an end to its one-child policy. It may once have seemed a shortcut to riches, but it has had a profound effect on society in modern China. Combining personal portraits of families affected by the policy with a nuanced account of China’s descent towards economic and societal turmoil, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mei Fong reveals the true cost of this most controversial of policies. Drawing on eight years spent documenting its repercussions, she reveals a dystopian legacy of second children refused documentation by the state, only children supporting their parents and grandparents, and villages filled with ineligible bachelors. An exceptional piece of on-the-ground journalism, One Child humanizes the policy that defined China and warns that the ill-effects of its legacy will be felt across the globe.

One Child

Author: John Apley,Christopher Ounsted

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 9780521442756

Category: Medical

Page: 204

View: 4125


'The Cartesian split of human creatures into "psyche" and "soma" has had a profoundly bad influence on the medical care of children.' In fact the concept of psychosomatic disease as a separate entirely false one, there being on illness that does not in some way affect behaviour, and no behaviour which is not in some way mediated by physiological factors. However, the subtleties of our understanding of child illness have gone much further than simply unmasking this false dichotomy. This book will now unveil the parts played by other features of the broader environment - the family, stress, socioeconomic factors - and other predicaments, including that of loving and being loved. To understand the child within these wider terms, the professionals involved in helping the child and the parents must in some way be given a new perspective, a broader view. One Child provides this perspective, stepping outside conventional presentations into the more exciting possibilities of reassessing the influences and rôles of the disease itself and the environment in which it arises. This represents challenge and will inevitably cause controversy, which should itself push the perspectives further.

Everybody's Baby, No One's Child

Author: Elaine H Claypool

Publisher: iUniverse

ISBN: 1491744448

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 396

View: 5840


Everybody’s Baby, No One’s Child is a candid and insightful story of a challenging life and triumph over odds. Elaine Claypool’s memoir covers nearly eighty years of personal experience, and includes the vast societal changes during that span of time. This is a story that begins with an unconventional childhood in which Elaine was swept away from the life she had known. In her teenage years she lived in Washington, DC, Japan, New York, Belgium and returned to DC, all within six years time. During that period she had a close encounter with a war, took care of her family during a crisis, and was self supporting at age eighteen. A life changing journey full of hurdles continued that included grief and rebirth in her midlife, but she was determined to overcome difficult occurrence and have a meaningful and successful life. This open and poignant story of her life, told with forthrightness and in good grace, has much to tell about the power to overcome, the importance of forgiveness, and spiritual triumph. Elaine hid parts of her history for decades. It took a very long time to know that all of our experience is meaningful and for a reason. Now aware of the importance of her hard earned learning, and being at peace with her past, she shares her life lessons in this memoir.

The Case for Only Child

Author: Susan Newman

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

ISBN: 0757391893

Category: Family & Relationships

Page: 264

View: 6754


What's really wrong with having one child? Is one enough for you? For your partner? What constitutes a complete, happy family? Will your only child be lonely, spoiled, bossy, selfish? Read this book and find out. Despite the personal distress and pressure to have a second baby, the number of women having an only child has more than doubled in the last two decades. What most people don't realize is that one-child families outnumber families with two children and have for more than two decades. In major metropolitan areas like New York, 30 percent of families have a singleton. Throughout the country people are following suit. And it's no wonder why: The worrisome biological clock (secondary infertility; older mothers) Downtrodden job markets How mothers working affects everyone in the family Finances and housing and costs of education These are only the few things that parents today (and parents to be) contend with when deciding to start a family and determining whether or not to stop after one. The time is right for a book that addresses the emerging type of nuclear family, one that consists of a solo child. Popular Psychology Today blogger and parenting author of fifteen books, including the groundbreaking Parenting the Only Child, Susan Newman, Ph.D., grew impatient with the pervasiveness of only-child folklore masquerading as fact and offers the latest findings about the long-term effects of being raised as a singleton. In The Case for the Only Child, Newman walks parents (and future parents) through the long list of factors working for and against them as well as highlights the many positive aspects of raising and being a singleton. The aim of this book is to ease and guide parents through the process of determining what they want. Although each situation is unique, the profound confusion surrounding having a second child is similar. It is one of the most difficult and life-altering choices parents face. Adding to one's family dramatically changes one's life and the life of one's firstborn forever. What will a person give up in time, money, freedom, intimacy, and job advancement with another child in the household? What will they gain? The Case for the Only Child helps explore and resolve these perplexing questions.

The Making of Modern Economics

Author: Mark Skousen

Publisher: M.E. Sharpe

ISBN: 0765628279

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 512

View: 9669


Here is a bold history of economics - the dramatic story of how the great economic thinkers built today's rigorous social science. Noted financial writer and economist Mark Skousen has revised and updated this popular work to provide more material on Adam Smith and Karl Marx, and expanded coverage of Joseph Stiglitz, 'imperfect' markets, and behavioral economics.This comprehensive, yet accessible introduction to the major economic philosophers of the past 225 years begins with Adam Smith and continues through the present day. The text examines the contributions made by each individual to our understanding of the role of the economist, the science of economics, and economic theory. To make the work more engaging, boxes in each chapter highlight little-known - and often amusing - facts about the economists' personal lives that affected their work.

Child Poverty in New Zealand

Author: Jonathan Boston,Simon Chapple

Publisher: Bridget Williams Books

ISBN: 1927277140

Category: Social Science

Page: 298

View: 9022


Jonathan Boston and Simon Chapple have written the definitive book on child poverty in New Zealand. Dr Russell Wills, Children’s Commissioner Between 130,000 and 285,000 New Zealand children live in poverty, depending on the measure used. These disturbing figures are widely discussed, yet often poorly understood. If New Zealand does not have ‘third world poverty’, what are these children actually experiencing? Is the real problem not poverty but simply poor parenting? How does New Zealand compare globally and what measures of poverty and hardship are most relevant here? What are the consequences of this poverty for children, their families and society? Can we afford to reduce child poverty and, if we can, how? Jonathan Boston and Simon Chapple look hard at these questions, drawing on available national and international evidence and speaking to an audience across the political spectrum. Their analysis highlights the strong and urgent case for addressing child poverty in New Zealand. Crucially, the book goes beyond illustrating the scale of this challenge, and why it must be addressed, to identifying real options for reducing child poverty. A range of practical and achievable policies is presented, alongside candid discussion of their strengths and limitations. These proposals for improving the lives of disadvantaged children deserve wide public debate and make this a vitally important book for all New Zealanders.