Sex Composition and Female Offending: Under the Impact of the One-Child Policy
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Sociology Sociology 2018 SEX COMPOSITION AND FEMALE OFFENDING: UNDER THE IMPACT OF THE ONE-CHILD POLICY Ting Wang University of Kentucky, [email protected] Author ORCID Identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4922-8642 Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2018.327 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Wang, Ting, "SEX COMPOSITION AND FEMALE OFFENDING: UNDER THE IMPACT OF THE ONE-CHILD POLICY" (2018). Theses and Dissertations--Sociology. 37. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/sociology_etds/37 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Sociology at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Sociology by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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Ting Wang, Student Dr. Janet Stamatel, Major Professor Dr. Janet Stamatel, Director of Graduate Studies SEX COMPOSITION AND FEMALE OFFENDING: UNDER THE IMPACT OF THE ONE-CHILD POLICY ______________________________________ DISSERTATION ______________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Ting Wang Lexington, Kentucky Co-Directors: Dr. Janet Stamatel, Associate Professor of Sociology and Dr. Claire Renzetti, Professor of Sociology Lexington, Kentucky Copyright © Ting Wang 2018 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION SEX COMPOSITION AND FEMALE OFFENDING: UNDER THE IMPACT OF THE ONE-CHILD POLICY This dissertation explores the mechanisms of the increasing female crime in China from the effect of the one-child policy, which is treated herein as a natural experiment. Data reveal that the women’s share of documented crime dramatically increased after the mid- 1990s when the first one-child generation reached the age of legal responsibility. This change reflects the interplay of the behavioral change and the net-widening effect. The increasing criminality of the one-child generation is attributable to the gap between the equal gender expectations of the individual, which has been reshaped by the unique socialization practices under the influence of the policy, and a stubbornly unequal gender hierarchy in the society. As a result, the one-child-generation women who disproportionately suffer the resulting strains are more likely to become involved in property and occupational crime as the alternative means to fulfill their aspirations for economic success. Additionally, the effect of the policy affects not only the individual gender roles of the only children but also their peers who have siblings through the intermediary of a culture shift. Therefore, the policy has changed the behavior of a whole new generation through the process of socialization and the lag in the structural change. The net-widening effect is another pathway of the unequal gender structure and ideologies to the increasing female crime. Moral panic associated with the emergence of diverse forms of female offenses lead to an inordinate degree of adverse attention focused upon the one-child-generation women by criminal justice professionals. The increased criminalization of sexuality brought an increasing number of the one-child-generation women into conflict with the law, usually for prostituting themselves for easy money to fulfill their material satisfaction. Consequently, the one-child-generation female offenders are perceived as “doubly deviant” from the law and from the socially prescribed ideology of gender and are, therefore, punished more harshly than before by the criminal justice system. This dissertation not only explores an understudied country in criminological research but also seeks to apply the findings to a broad sphere to explain the increasing female crime that has been observed worldwide. It disentangles the theoretical controversy in explaining the increase in the share of crime committed by women in general by embedding the argument in a multidimensional gender role repertoire. KEYWORDS: Female Crime, One-child Policy, Imbalanced Sex Ratios, Gender Role Repertoire, Gender Inequality Ting Wang . July 23, 2018 . Date SEX COMPOSITION AND FEMALE OFFENDING: UNDER THE IMPACT OF THE ONE-CHILD POLICY By Ting Wang Dr. Janet Stamatel Co-Director of Dissertation Dr. Claire Renzetti Co-Director of Dissertation Dr. Janet Stamatel Director of Graduate Studies July 23, 2018 To my parents, Xiaoyan Jiang and Xuejun Wang, for your unconditional support, love, and trust. To my sons, Orlando and Austin Wang, for your cherubic smiles and genuine hearts that have made me stronger and more fulfilled than ever before. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS When I look back and recall the time I decided to pursue my second Ph.D. degree in a new field, I always feel the craziness. It is far beyond my ability to count how many strikes I have experienced from the inter-disciplinary transference to sociology. Moreover, I cannot imagine how I could have finished this dissertation without so many special people always supporting, guiding, and stick with me along the way. I am tremendously fortunate to have committee members Janet Stamatel, Claire Renzetti, Thomas Janoski, Charlie Yi Zhang, and Edward Morris who was on my committee for my dissertation proposal. Co-chair Janet Stamatel and Claire Renzetti brought a depth of knowledge that few could match. I thank them for supporting this project and giving such thoughtful feedback, always aimed at moving me forward. I am grateful for the conversations and email communication with Thomas Janoski and Charlie Zhang, which generated new ideas and improvements in my work. I thank Edward Morris for his service and suggestions to my dissertation despite his overwhelming schedule. I am appreciative of the extra service of my dissertation committee and the outside reader, Dr. Mandakini Sadhir, generously offered to me during the summer break. I thank the whole community of colleagues and friends in the Department of Sociology at the University of Kentucky, for their tremendous support, encouragement, and assistance for my work: Ana Liberato, Tony Love, Keiko Tanaka, Christopher Huggins, Patrick Mooney, Shaunna Scott, Kathryn Engle, Chenghui Zhang, Julia Miller, Sakin Erin, Sara Compion, Amanda Bunting, Joseph Calvert, Grace Cale, Jared Friesen, Allison Adair, and Justin Conder. It was crazy to do the second doctoral degree, but I never regret my decision; or else, I would have never met them all, who let me be better than ever. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................1 1.1. Introduction and Objectives ..............................................................................1 1.2. Methodology .....................................................................................................8 1.3. Structure ............................................................................................................9 1.4. Figures.............................................................................................................11 Chapter 2. Sex Ratios and Female Crime ..........................................................................12 2.1. Introduction .....................................................................................................12 2.2. China’s One-Child Policy ...............................................................................14 2.3. Theory and Literature .....................................................................................17