Beyond WEIRD-centric Theories and Perspectives:Masculinity and Fathering in Chinese Societies

The fatherhood scholarship has made much theoretical progress over the past decades, yet existing models and concepts continue to draw primarily on WEIRD-centric assumptions. This review uses demographically sizeable, culturally significant, yet understudied and under-theorized Chinese fathers as an example to reveal the limitations of applying WEIRD-centric perspectives in studying fathering and fatherhood. Specifically, existing models and concepts of fathering and fatherhood, with anemphasis on father involvement, especially in rough-and-tumble play, are predicatedon the assumptionsof nuclear family and western hegemonic masculinity. The Chinese cultural tradition, in contrast, endorses a literatus masculinity and emphasizes the family lineage, therebyencouraging fathers’ educational involvement and inviting grandparental care. These cultural traditions intersect with unfolding social developments in contemporaryChinese societies to shape fathering ideals and practices. A full, routine inclusion of non-WEIRD fathers, such as Chinese fathers, promises tobenefit the scholarship on fathering and fatherhood as a whole.