Socioeconomic Determinants of Caste-based Endogamy: A Qualitative Study
Abstract views: 3127 / PDF downloads: 996
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/697Keywords:
caste, economic dynamics, Endogamy, social factors, marriage system, patriarchy, social factors.Abstract
The present study is aimed at exploring the socioeconomic determinants and implications of caste-based endogamous marriages in Punjab, the most populous province in Pakistan. The data for this study were collected from a sample of 24 participants (14 males and 10 females), who were married-within-caste, with diverse socioeconomic, educational, and geographic backgrounds. This study found social pressure, protection of family honor, geographic propinquity, and caste-based stereotyping as key social factors reinforcing endogamous marriages in the province. Finally, the desire to avoid distribution of family’s economic resources like property and land was found to be a leading economic determinant of caste-based endogamy. Further, endogamy hinders economic mobility of lower castes since economic capitals such as land and property are preserved through this marital practice.Downloads
References
Abraham, J. (2014). Contingent caste endogamy and patriarchy. Economic and Political Weekly, 49(2), 56-65.
Akpan, L. (2018). The Political undertone in the development of nomadic education in Africa: Lessons from Nigeria. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 2(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/5791 DOI: https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/5791
Ali, Q. U. A., Chaudhry, A. G., Ahmed, A., & Farooq, H. (2014). Psychological ailments and schizophrenia: An anthropological description of endogamous marriage patterns and family institution. European Academic Research, 2(7), 8775-8786.
Ambedkar, B. R. (1916). Castes in India: Their mechanism, genesis, and development. The Columbia University.
Awoyemi, J. A. (2014). Pre-marital counselling in a multicultural society. Lulu.com.
Bailey, G., & Peoples, J. (2013). Essentials of cultural anthropology. Cengage Learning.
Bhale, A. G. (2013). Perspective of educated youths towards the inter-caste marriage. IJAAR, 1(1), 18-28.
Bhusal, R. (2013). Inter-caste marriage: Social support and family care in contemporary rural Nepal. Retrieved January 18, 2018, from http://www.kuasu.cpier.kyoto-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Rajesh-Bhusal1512.pdf
Bittles, A. H. (2002). Endogamy, consanguinity, and community genetics. Journal of Genetics, 81(3), 91-98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02715905
Bittles, A. H. (2005). Endogamy, consanguinity, and community disease profiles. Public Health Genomics, 8(1), 17-20. https://doi.org/10.1159/000083332 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1159/000083332
Bunescu, I. (2015). Roma in Europe: The politics of collective identity formation. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315606811
Buss, D. M. B., & Schmitt D. P. (1993). Sexual strategies theory: A contextual evolutionary analysis of human mating. Psychological Review, 100(2), 204-232. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.100.2.204
Clark, G., Cummins, N., Hao, Y., & Vidal, D. D. (2014). The Son also rises: Surnames and the history of social mobility. Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400851096
Colantonio, S. E., Fuster, V., & Marcellino, A. J. (2006). Class endogamy, inbreeding and migration during the Argentinean colonial period: Analysis based on individuals of European ancestry. Anthropologischer Anzeiger, 311-319. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/64/2006/311
De Neve, G. (2016). The economies of love: Love marriage, kin support, and aspiration in a South Indian garment city. Modern Asian Studies, 50(4), 1220-1249. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X14000742
Drisko, J. W., & Maschi, T. (2015). Content analysis. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190215491.001.0001
Gil-White, F. J. (2005). Is ethnocentrism adaptive? An ethnographic analysis. University of Pennsylvania.
Grover, S. (2017). Marriage, love, caste, and kinship support: Lived experiences of the urban poor in India. Taylor & Francis. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203732823
Guillemin, M., & Gillam, L. (2004). Ethics, reflexivity, and “ethically important moments” in research. Qualitative Inquiry, 10(2), 261-280. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800403262360
Gupta, V. (2011). Genomic efficiency of endogamy in India. International Journal of Human Genetics, 11(3), 199-201. https://doi.org/10.1080/09723757.2011.11886143 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09723757.2011.11886143
Harper, D. (2011). Choosing a qualitative research method. In D. J. Harper & A. R. Harper (Eds.), Qualitative Research Methods in Mental Health and Psychotherapy (pp. 83-98). Wiley Blackwell. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119973249.ch7
Husain, A. (1994). Human Mating Behavior. Northern Book Centre.
Hussain, R. (1999). Community perceptions of reasons for preference for consanguineous marriages in Pakistan. Journal of Biosocial Science, 31(4), 449-461. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021932099004496
Imtiaz, S., Ilyas, Z., Chaudhry, A. G., & Hadi, S. A. (2015). Social change, modernity, and endogamous marriages: Anthropological analysis. Pakistan Association of Anthropology, Islamabad, 27, 695-697.
Jataayu, (2014). Caste is hardly an impediment for ‘homecoming Hindus’. Retrieved June 20, 2018, from https://swarajyamag.com/culture/caste-is-hardly-an-impediment-for-homecoming-hindus
Jodhka, S., & Shah, G. (2010). Comparative contexts of discrimination: Caste and untouchability in South Asia. Economic and Political Weekly, 45(48), 99-106.
Kalmijn, M. (1998). Intermarriage and endogamy: Causes, patterns, trends. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 395–42. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.24.1.395
Kerckhoff, A. C., & Davis, K. E. (1962). Value consensus and need complementarity in mate selection. American Sociological Review, 27(3), 295-303. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2089791
Knox, D., & Schacht, C. (2012). Choices in relationships: An introduction to marriage and the family. Nelson Education.
Mare, R. D. (1991). Five decades of educational assortative mating. American Sociological Review, 56(1), 15-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2095670
Murstein, B. I. (1980). Mate selection in 1970s. Journal of Marriage & the Family, 42(4), 777-792. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/351824
Narzary, P. K., & Ladusingh, L. (2019). Discovering the Saga of inter-caste marriage in India. Journal of Asian & African Studies, 54(4), 588-599. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909619829896
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. (2017). Population census 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2018, from https://web.archive.org/web/20171015113737/http://www.pbscensus.gov.pk/
Parmar, D., & Sengupta, L. K. (1994). Marital distance and village endogamy in Bhilala and Barela tribes of West Nimar in Central India. Journal of Human Ecology, 5(2), 127-130. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09709274.1994.11907083
Pauls, P. E., & Young, G. (2016). Endogamy. Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2017, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/endogamy
Regan, P. C. (2003). The Mating Game: A Primer on Love, Sex, and Marriage. Sage Publications.
Rosenfeld, M. J. (2005). A critique of Exchange Theory in mate selection. American Journal of Sociology, 110(5), 1284-1325. https://doi.org/10.1086/428441 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/428441
Rosenfeld, M. J. (2008). Racial, educational, and religious endogamy in the United States: A comparative historical perspective. Social Forces, 87(1), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.0.0077 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.0.0077
Saleem, H., Chaudhry, A. G., & Riaz, M. (2015). Endogamy and marital alliances: Anthropology of indigenous marriage patterns. Pakistan Association of Anthropology, Islamabad, 27(2), 1603-1605.
Schaefer, R. T. (2001). Sociology. McGraw- Hill.
Schwimmer, B. (2003). Lineage endogamy. Department of Anthropology at University of Manitoba. Retrieved November 6, 2017, from https://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/marriage/lineage_endogamy.html
Sen, A. (2000). Social exclusion: Concept, application, and scrutiny. Office of Environment and Social Development, Asian Development Bank.
Shami, S. A., Qaisar, R., & Bittles, A. H. (1991). Consanguinity and adult morbidity in Pakistan. The Lancet, 338(8772), 954-955. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0140-6736(91)91828-I
Snell, K. D. (2002). English rural societies and geographical marital endogamy, 1700–1837. The Economic history review, 55(2), 262-298. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0289.00221
Sofroniou, A. (2015). Therapeutic Psychology. Lulu.com.
Srinivasan, K., & James, K. S. (2015). The golden cage: Stability of the institution of marriage in India. Economic and Political Weekly, 50(13), 38-45.
Stevens, G., & Swicegood, G. (1987). The linguistic context of ethnic endogamy. American Sociological Review, 52(1), 73-82. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2095393
Trivers, R. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man, 1871-1971 (pp. 136-179). Aldine. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315129266-7
Usman, A., & Amjad, A. (2013). Caste based endogamy in a Punjabi village of Pakistan. South Asian Studies, 28(2), 341.
Verma, S., & Sukhramani, N. (2018). Interfaith marriages and negotiated spaces. Society & Culture in South Asia, 4(1), 16-43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2393861717730620
Waerzeggers, C. (2002). Endogamy in Mesopotamia in the first millennium BC, In mining the archives festschrift for Christopher Walker on the occasion of his 60th birthday. ISLET, 1, 319-342. http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-158894
Yee, G. A. (2003). Poor banished children of eve: Woman as evil in the Hebrew bible. Fortress Press.
Zaman, M. (2011). Exchange marriages in South Punjab, Pakistan: A sociological analysis of kinship structure, agency, and symbolic culture. Peter Lang.
Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., & Griffin, M. (2013). Business research methods (9th ed.). South Western.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
By submitting a manuscript to JECS, authors agree to transfer without charge the following rights to JECS upon acceptance of the manuscript: first worldwide publication rights and the right for JECS to grant permissions as JECS editors judge appropriate for the redistribution of the article, its abstract, and its metadata in professional indexing and reference services. Any revenues from such redistribution are used solely to support the continued publication and distribution of articles.
Accepted 2021-01-21
Published 2021-02-10