ABSTRACT
In this chapter we return to the topic of the family among the Taiwanese of Taipei. In earlier chapters we were interested in how the 1963 and 1991 respondents related to their parents and extended kin, both normatively and in terms of actual behavior. The focus now turns to how Taiwanese socialize their own children, in particular to their ideas about discipline and corporal punishment for children. Another social issue concerning the family is how given families are formed through marriage; more specifically, what Taiwanese think about the role of love and family status in selecting mates, and which should take precedence when a couple is in love but from different family status backgrounds. Finally, we consider attitudes toward the social issue of how Taiwan can be made a better place, and in particular two alternative means to that end: the authoritarian means of entrusting everything to political leaders and the democratic means of mass citizen political participation.
