Abstract: The content and practice of family life is embedded in a special institutionalized context. It is a response to the discourse of the times. Conjugal conflict，as part of family life，is destructive，but as a safety valve，it reflects women’s status in a family，their role play，and interactive strategy. An observation is made of the marital conflicts experienced by two groups of women in China，one born in the 1950s and 1960s，and the other in the 1980s and 1990s. The elder group of women was shaped by the two mechanisms of political socialization and emotional socialization；influenced by a collectivist culture，they pursue a sense of security，focus on the pay，order，and integrity in the family，with commitment the key note. The younger group of women，on the other hand，was infiltrated by an individualism culture；they focus on individual satisfaction and self interest in a marital conflict，with intimacy their key note. Both groups pursue spousal egality，and indentify with traditional expectations of gender temperament；their bond with their children is shifting from the one-dimensional necessity to personalized desires. Both groups of women in family life display autonomy，initiativity，and a certain degree of conservativeness. The intergeneration discrepancy of the two groups of women reveals a change from collectivization to individualization in both family life trajectory and individual life course.

Key words: marital relation, marital conflict, spousal relation, intimate relation